Mendell Gosnell, CPM, breaks down what controls how fast you can rent a Salem house or apartment. The rental market itself matters most, but summer fills faster than fall. Price it right, make it look good, and advertise on Craigslist and Rentals.com to speed things up.
Chapters
How long will it take to rent my house or apartment? That's the subject of today's video blog. This is probably the number 3 question that we get on a consistent basis from new clients, owners, investors. When they're looking at management services, they want to know, "How much do you charge?" "How much can you rent my place for?" and "How fast can you rent?" There's several variables that go into that equation, and one of the biggest ones that we just don't have any control over is the current rental market. Right now in 2017, the rental market's great here in Oregon and throughout the nation for the most part. But that can change. It hasn't always been that way, and so that's a huge determining factor. Also, season— seasonality. So during the, what we call the turn season in the summer, things are a lot easier to rent. Once the school year starts, generally the fall, you get into cooler, rainier weather, people move around less, and so you're going to have a harder time filling vacancies. The other is the desirability of your property, the price that you set. If you've got a real fair, reasonable price, it's going to rent up pretty quick. The amount of amenities that you're offering in comparison to other competitive rental units, houses or apartments, townhouses, or the other factor is going to be the overall curb appeal. And I can't stress this enough, you really want to put your best foot forward. Someone sees the house and it's not up to par, it's going to take a little bit longer to rent, and generally speaking, you can't really count on getting the best tenants for your property. Definitely want to put your best foot forward, attract quality tenants by offering a quality rental product. Certainly relative, if you've got a high-end house in a really nice area, then it's got to be competitive to that surrounding area and that inventory. If you've got a lower-end rental unit, apartment in a difficult part of town, make it the nicest in that part of town and you're going to have great success. Another thing to think about is the ad that you're using. You know, are you using yard signs? Is the number on the yard sign very visible? Do you have flyers that tell about the amenities that are offered? And are you advertising in good mediums like Craigslist and Rentals.com and other— there's just a ton of different sites out there, and a lot of the sites aggregate and pull push out to different places. Are you crafting an appealing ad? And caveat, be careful that you don't violate any of the fair housing laws by targeting certain classes to the exclusion of other classes. Those are the main ways that you can look at in order to maximize how quick you can rent your place. Hope that helps. And, uh, happy investing!
