Marketing is an essential piece of managing a rental property. Increasing the exposure of your rental property will help you find quality tenants while keeping vacancies low. The first thing prospective tenants searching for a rental do is look online. With several popular rental listing websites with thousands of rental listings, landlords are going to need to make sure their applying the best marketing practices, so that their rental listing gets noticed. A key feature of their listing is going to be rental pictures.
The first step with taking great rental pictures is having the right camera. Years ago, a landlord or property manager would need to hire a photographer with expensive equipment to take decent photos. However, smartphones today offer high-quality built-in cameras that makes the need to buy a high-end camera or hire professional photographers obsolete. The second step of taking great marketing photos is thinking about how you want to stage the rental unit. When taking pictures of an empty unit you can stage it however you want. However, if the unit is being occupied by current tenants, property managers will need to ask their tenants for permission to take the photos. To avoid taking pictures of a messy unit, landlords can offer incentives to their tenants like a free cleaning service before they take the photos or a discount on rent if they clean up.
Next, the landlord needs to think about what room is the selling point for their rental unit and highlight it in the photos. Many landlords assume the kitchen is generally the main selling point of any rental apartment. However, this may not always be the case especially in big cities where people often order in, instead of cooking. Therefore, it is important to photograph every room of the rental unit to highlight everything the rental has to offer. Furthermore, you should take pictures of any amenities offered like the laundry room and common spaces your new tenants are likely to use.
When taking pictures, it is also essential to make sure you have enough light, that you’re taking them at angles that capture most of the room while avoiding mirrors and glare. Once you take the photos, you can use editing options on your camera or computer to change color lighting, crop our portions of the photo and even rotate the picture. When you find pictures that you like you should not only upload them when marketing your rental, you should add them into your property management system to use in the future to save you time the next time the unit is vacant.
This post is provided by RISSOFT Residential and Commercial Property Management Software, specializing in innovative and cutting-edge property management software for all 50 states. Request a demo or contact us today to receive more information.
Disclaimer: The information provided in this post not intended to be construed as legal advice, nor should it be considered a substitute for obtaining individual legal counsel or consulting your local, state, federal or provincial tenancy laws.