When Your Property Isn’t Renting

Why is your property still vacant?

Short answer – you are asking too much for the current state. You either need to drop the price or raise the standards. Below we tell you how –

Landing your dream tenants means providing the best value on the market for their situation and needs. While that can sometimes be a difficult thing to predict, making sure your property hits all the following checkpoints will go a long way to bringing in interest you are currently missing.

Presentation

Is the property clean and tidy? Marks and stains as much as possible should be removed, walls may need sugar soaping or in extreme cases a coat of fresh paint. A specialised exit cleaning company is well worth the expense here. They know what to expect from a tenanted property, will allocate a correct amount of time and most importantly, they know what state the property needs to be in.

Any maintenance should be taken care of, don’t be surprised if people don’t want to move into your property with broken curtain rails, peeling wallpaper and a mess of a garden.

Remember, even if the tenant doesn’t appreciate the work and effort you put into getting this property in shape, it will at least put you on par with, if not above nearby similar properties available for rent. Make no mistake, this is a competition and your prospective tenants are viewing and applying for more than just your place.

Promotion

Are the photos representative? Funnily enough putting up wonderful photos at this stage – if they are not representative of the current state of the property will shoot you in the foot. While you should be able to bring in plenty of enquiry with these photos, at the viewing you will see faces fall. Too high hopes meet reality and you have wasted your time showing these people something different than they were expecting and you have no applications.

We highly recommend professional photos but these may need to be retaken after long or hard wearing tenancies, probably every few years. Professional photos cost anywhere from $200+

If you aren’t going professional for photos – tidy up, open up windows, doors, blinds, turn on all lights including lamps. Shoot from corners into corners to show off the room preferably with a wide angle lens.

Pricing

Remember tenants are looking at multiple properties.  You need to rate with others in the marketplace. Find a few similar and nearby properties to price your own place against. Be objective as the tenants will.

Do the maths – a week of vacancy is a loss of over $500 for the average rental property in Auckland. If you drop the rent by $10 – $30 are you able to get someone in sooner?

Thinking long game – a rent just below market rates can be a great incentive to get someone in fast and keep good tenants long term.

So what now?

Put up your new photos and rewrite the advert copy. Make it look like a new listing to draw back any parties that may have written it off already. Think about who the property best suits and write the ad for them. A 3 bedroom home in the suburbs might suit a family, an apartment in the city could suit a professional. Something near the Universities might be a good fit for students. Highlight nearby facilities and attractions your most likely tenant will find helpful/enjoyable. If you have a fenced property consider allowing dogs. Pet owners are severely restricted in options for rentals and tend to pay an extra $50 per week above average market rates with no pets for the area.

Disclaimer: The information contained in this publication is exclusively for promotional purposes and is not to be relied upon for legal or contractual dealings. Tenant Source recommends you seek independent legal advice, and that you may need to seek technical or other advice and information prior to making any actions in regards to tenancies in your investment properties. Tenant Source Ltd including its staff and directors accepts no responsibility for any issues arising as a result of taking advice from this publication.