Pyramis Company has a very good track record in renting out homes. There’s no secret recipe to this, as pricing and marketing are the keys to attracting the best tenants quickly.
If this is the first time we are marketing your property, and we began management with a tenant already in place, we don’t have marketing photos to use. We’ll take some of the outside in order to get it listed, but unless you have some quality photos that we can use, we’ll have to wait until the tenant is out to get interior marketing photos.
Pre-Marketing
Get the property in rentable condition, and then the real marketing can begin. First impressions are critical when people are selecting a place to live. Utilities must be on, repairs must be complete (or nearly complete) and the property must be clean before we start marketing a property. It is aggravating to drive an hour to a property with a prospective renter only to find it dirty, smelly and unsightly. Tenants get turned off by homes that are not move-in-ready and often won’t return to see them a second time. Worse, an outside showing agent will be upset and won’t likely show the home again even if it fits another of their clients’ needs.
Utilities
Marketing a property without the utilities on is an impossible task. We’ve tried it several times and always end up at the same place, frustrated and kicking ourselves for trying it. When utilities are off at move-in, there are repercussions and expenses the owner probably didn’t anticipate. Please make sure the utilities are left on through the move-in.
Rent-Ready Issues
“Go ahead and start marketing the property … I’ll have the rehab done before you get a tenant” just doesn’t work. We often rent houses in a few days and trying to move tenants into a half-ready home is painful. Get it ready and we’ll market it, but we’ll be reluctant to start too early. Also, not everyone has the “vision” to see a home after the repairs are done; you’ll lose them as potential tenants.
Photo & Video
As discussed above, we have one chance to make a first impression. Ultimately, we want the house rent-ready when we take marketing photos. We have so little control with photo syndication to other listings systems that we really want the best possible photos when we initially list the house for rent. For many of our properties, we’ve already shot 360° virtual tour videos. It’s an intensive process and we can only do it when the property is vacant, so we haven’t gotten to all of them yet. The feedback from these unique videos has been great.
Setting the Rent
We lease numerous homes each month. We know the market and can find lots of rental comps to drive the asking rent. Although it’s your call, we’ll advise you and report activity. You’ll set the rent (and make the mortgage payment until the property is occupied) so we’re on the path to getting it rented quickly. Too many times we’ve experienced a client dead-set on a rate that’s too far over market and won’t hear our suggestions. The property sits for 30-45 days and the client is now upset that it’s still not rented. We’re only then allowed to adjust the price to where it should be and it’s usually rented in under two weeks. In an attempt to make an extra $150/month, they ended up paying one or two extra mortgage payments from their pocket.