In the United States, there are approximately 48.2 million individual residential rental units. Whether you currently own investment homes or want to buy your first one, knowing how to make the properties appeal to renters is essential. By having the right features and amenities, you make your houses become more attractive options. As a result, you’ll have an easier time securing tenants.

If you aren’t sure what you need to do to make your properties more appealing to renters, Property Management Made Easy offers some tips that can help.

How to Make Your Investment Properties Appealing to Renters

Choose the Best Locations

Location is one of the most important factors with rental properties. Ideally, you want to purchase homes or apartments in safe, beautiful neighborhoods that appeal to your target market.

If you’re getting family homes, seek out places with exceptional school districts and maintained parks. For urban professionals, focus on lifestyle amenities and conveniences.

Find Properties with Critical Features

Like homebuyers, renters have specific features that matter to them. Bathrooms and kitchens are often some of the most important spaces, so you want to make sure they are a good size. Storage is also crucial, so closet space is a must. Since the pandemic, separate home office space is also increasingly vital, so keep that in mind when you’re looking for properties.

Make the Right Updates and Repairs

If you have an existing property or buy a fixer-upper, making the right updates and repairs is essential. Consider refreshing the bathrooms and kitchens, ensuring they look clean and have critical amenities.

A new coat of paint or updated flooring can also work wonders. Just make sure to keep the colors neutral. That way, they have the broadest appeal.

Spending a little time improving the rental’s curb appeal is also a great move. It gives prospective tenants the best first impression, making the property seem more welcoming and refined.

Finally, if anything is broken or damaged, repair or replace it. Otherwise, a single obvious issue could cost you a renter.

Advertise Strategically

When it comes time to market your property, you want high-quality photographs for your ads. When your photos are enticing, it increases the odds that renters will want to come and check out the property.

Before you take photographs, deep clean the property. Additionally, while home staging is more commonly used when selling, it isn’t a bad idea for rental photos. Use wide-angle lenses that aren’t fisheyes. That way, the image is wider but not distorted.

Also, write enticing descriptions. Along with a quick summary paragraph, create a bulleted list of key features that matter to renters.

Once you have the images and descriptions, place ads in the right places online. Along with social media ads, head to popular websites like Apartments.com, Craigslist, Realtor.com, Trulia, and Zillow. That way, you have the broadest reach possible.

Price Competitively

When you’re pricing your rental property, focus on being competitive. Consider the number of bedrooms, square footage, features, fixtures, and updates. Also, factor in the location, as access to amenities can alter a property’s perceived value. Then, research similar rentals in your immediate area and choose a price point that aligns with local norms.

Bonus Tip: How to Deal with Property Management

Once you have an investment property, you usually have to decide whether to hire a property manager or serve as the landlord. Each approach has benefits and drawbacks, so you’ll want to consider them carefully.

With a property manager, you get a dedicated expert who will assist with tenant screening and management, payment collection, maintenance requests, and more. However, you have to pay for their services, which can take a big bite out of your profits.

As a landlord, you can save quite a bit of money. In exchange, you have to handle all of those activities yourself. Luckily, it isn’t necessarily as difficult as it may seem.

For example, services like PM Made Easy can make a big difference. With PM Made Easy, you get access to professional, customizable, and fully compliant forms, checklists, letters, and documents. Not only will it streamline your operations, but it eliminates a lot of stress, ensuring your investment properties never feel like a burden.

Contributing Author Lucy Reed – Lucy created Gig Mine to help others dig up sharing economy opportunities in a user’s area, all in a single location, so users don’t have to jump between multiple sites. It’s the new and improved way to get a gig job!