Looking for tenants? Having vacant properties or rooms (if you follow an HMO strategy) is a real profit killer.
Over the past few years I have used a variety of ways to find tenants, and what follows is a list of the most successful for me:
1) Tenant Recommendations
The single best way to fill up your vacancies is to build up a refer and earn program with your current, or past tenants. I offer my tenants £25 for any recommendation they give me who goes on to move in.
They will generally be of a higher standard (as you would only really want to take a recommendation for a good tenant in the first place). They will also treat the property with respect, as they feel a certain amount of loyalty to the friend who referred them.
2) www.easyroommate.com
This is very effective if you are renting rooms out specifically. The standard of tenant tends to be very high, probably due to the fact it is purely internet based. I have often found that using internet tenant solutions generally brings younger professionals through as prospects.
3) www.gumtree.com
4) Adverts in Local Shops
Also known as 'postcarding'. It is incredibly low cost, and suprisingly high yielding. I get a number of calls each month from simple little cards in shop windows. The trick obviously is to target shops with high footfall of your target group.
5) Local Newspaper
This is an expensive way to advertise, and generally is my last resort. It does however, give you good exposure, and will result in plenty of enquiries (if you word it correctly!) This is particularly effective if you are targetting DSS tenants (as i do with some of my properties) as this is their main channel for looking for accomodation.
I have purposely left out Estate Agents here, because a finders fee of 10% of the yearly rent is far too much to consider using them.
If anyone else has other successful methods for finding tenants feel free to comment!
Thanks!
