As a landlord, are you curious about the right way to go about offering tenant incentives? You may have provided incentives in the past, and they may or may not have proven effective.
Offering deals to get more tenants is worthwhile. It’s an excellent way to fill vacancies. But you shouldn’t make it a regular thing if you want to bring in enough money.
When offering incentives, here are some tips to keep in mind.
As you read over these suggestions, remember your goal should always be to retain tenants. Of course, it’s crucial to fill vacancies, but don’t get so wrapped up on this that you lose your current renters in the process.
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1. Create an Effective Marketing Plan
Before coming up with enticing incentives, you should develop an effective marketing plan. You can hire a marketing agency to help with this, or you can come up with a plan on your own.
Either way, it’s wise to have a strategy in place before proceeding with the incentives you have in mind.
If you’re curious about what techniques you should focus on, here are a few ideas:
- Zero in on your SEO
- Start a blog and blog regularly
- Advertise on specialty sites
- Use social media to your advantage
Think outside the box and don’t only concentrate on what every other landlord is doing. And keep your market and location in mind so that you offer the right deals.
Coming up with a stellar marketing strategy will put you miles ahead of your competition.
2. Remember Where Rental Ads Are Posted
After a tenant decides to rent with you, make sure the posted rental ads get taken down.
If you want to continue to post the deal or incentive, leave the ads up. But if your vacancy is where you want it to be then, you should remove the ads.
You don’t want potential renters to refer to a past ad and assume they can get the same deal. It’ll be harder for you to negotiate with them and get them to select your property as their new home.
3. Don’t Bring in a Bad Tenant Just to Fill a Vacancy
It could be that you need a few more tenants at your apartment complex. But that doesn’t mean you have to settle for tenants who aren’t qualified. They’ll likely move out anyway, especially if they moved in due to an incentive.
For example, you may have some renters who signed up with a reduced rent rate for the first six months.
After their reduced rent period is over, they may not be able to live there any longer. If that happens, you’ll be back at square one.
So, do your best to find a tenant you feel will stay at your complex long term. Focus your energy on looking for the right tenant instead of a tenant that’ll temporarily fill an empty unit.
Putting emphasis on this type of approach will work more in your favor.
4. Offer Apartment Perks
Instead of offering discounted rent or waving a security deposit, there are other ways to lure tenants to your complex.
You may want to spend time upgrading your units and offering other perks on-site.
Do you have a dog-friendly complex? Then consider building a dog park where pet owners can let their dogs off-leash. Or, you could have a better playground to attract prospective renters who have kids.
Another idea is to upgrade units with granite countertops and new carpet.
Don’t get too carried away, though, because you still need to make enough money. But in the long run, these upgrades can save you money because you won’t have to offer incentives.
The new granite countertops and carpet will make it easy to convince prospective tenants that your units are top notch!
5. Allow Pets
I want to elaborate on another pet-friendly apartment incentive further.
One easy perk to offer is allowing cats and dogs to live at your complex for free.
Now, there should be some rules involved. For example, you may decide only to allow certain breeds. And you may only allow dogs under 50 pounds to live in an apartment.
After all, keeping wear and tear on your units minimal should be a top priority. But you’re more likely to attract and retain renters by allowing their furry friends to stay with them.
Depending on the area, it’s sometimes hard for a renter to find a pet-friendly apartment. However, by accepting pets and offering a concession in pet rent, it’s a sure thing that your property will interest people.
Conclusion
So there you have it. Are you ready to retain and get new tenants who’ll make an excellent addition to your complex? It may take a lot of work, but it’ll be time well spent!
So start thinking of ways to offer prospective renters incentives. And pay attention to existing tenants so you keep them around for months to come.
You’re bound to have the most incredible tenants on your property who will never want to leave!
