Landlords often find it difficult to find the right tenant for their property. As owners, we always want a tenant that will be reliable with paying rent, and looking after your property, to ensure your investment property is a success.
Nevertheless, securing the right tenant for your property, ‘isn’t as hard as we think, as long as you find your target market, apply a tenant strategy and have a good first impression’ says Property Managers Melb, Elizabeth Ribarsky.
Starting Point
Who is your target audience for your rental property? Is your property an apartment or a house? Is it located near schools or shopping centres? Is it located close to public transport?
All these questions can be asked in order to identify who is your target market. It is extremely important to take into consideration that every property will need different maintenance, which will target specific tenants.
Research
It is extremely common for landlords to only complete a basic reference check when screening applicants. A standard tenant application involves a minimum of three references across past property managers, employers and personal referees, where landlords should take their time to contact these people.
Contacting a past employer about the potential tenant’s reliability can be a simple way to see whether the will pay their rent on time. Or contacting a past property manager can give you a review on how they have taken care of the previous property and so on. Finding out how long a tenant has been living at the previous property is crucial, as good tenants will stay in a property for a minimum of 12 months and will most likely have a good reference for a property manager.
Searching for Tenants
The number one starting point to find the right tenant, is to contact a professional property manager. Property Managers will ensure that you receive the right rental income, advertise your property correctly and will carry out the proper tenant screening process to attract the best tenants possible.
Whether you are searching for your own tenants or using a Property Manager, it is extremely important that you have a marketing strategy to attract right tenant:
- Advertising
- Creating a web page for your property
- Writing up an attractive copy, that will emphasise the main features of the property
- Background information of the suburb where the property is located.
- Using good quality photos and lighting that will capture all the interior and exterior features of the property.
Impressing your Tenant
As a landlord, it is crucial that you give an excellent first impression. It is really important that as a landlord you view your own property as any other tenant would – Is the property safe, is it in a reasonable condition? Would I want to live in this property? And so on.
As a landlord if you maintain your property in great condition, it is more likely that you will find tenants who will treat the same care for your property. Therefore, if it is a run downed property, then tenants will not care for your property.
When presenting your property to potential tenants during inspection, present it as if you were putting the property up for inspection. Therefore, if you think putting new fly screens, or repainting the house will value the house at $600,00 then do not hesitate to do so. Ensuring your house is in the best possible condition will ensure that you will find the right tenants that are willing to pay a higher price.
After Finding the Right Tenant
Once you have the right tenant for your property it is extremely important that you have insurance on your property, as small accidents such as spillages and more significant damages like water damage or fires can often happen without any warning.
Therefore, insurance on your property can ease the pain of covering the cost of the damages, as you are well aware that you are insured.
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