Are you frustrated with your vacant units? Your advertising campaign may need a boost. In the current real estate market, keeping your units full could make the difference between going into foreclosure and surviving the slow downs.
Strategies
The majority of property owners use more common methods of advertisement like signs, newpaper articles, online property listings and word of mouth. These methods have proven to be effective over the years, but why not secure the competitive advantage?
The strategy which seems to work best is giving your prospective tenants or buyers an incentive to rent or buy from you. Consider the following:
Give current tenants an incentive to stay. Send a special tenant letter offering them a gift cards, $200 off next month's rent, or cash if they refer someone to you that signs a lease.
Give prospective tenants or buyers incentives. You can offer them a DVD Player, waive application fees, offer one month rent free, or perhaps reduced rent for the first 6 months, maybe $25 off. State the offer in your newspaper ad or online listing. Don't be afraid to pay a little extra for an attention getter, featured or bolded ad if it means you will rent faster.
The community. Many community centers, libraries, churches and grocery stores have public bulletin boards where it is appropriate to post flyers. Just check first to make sure it is appropriate to post flyers there.
Stop Losing Money
Face it. Every month that your unit stays vacant you are losing money.
So, the extra expense of offering something to prospects in addition to a place live is worth it. If you spend $50, $100, or even $200 dollars to fill your vacancy, you get your cash flow back that much more quickly. A $600 dollar apartment vacant for 3 months just cost you $1,800 bucks. If you had spent $300 on a new TV, an online classified ad and some for rent signs and gotten it filled within a week or two, at the end of those same three months, you would net $1,500 in profit instead of a $1,800 loss.
