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How to Rent Your Property Fast

Want Your Investment Property to Stand Out and Rent Fast & Stress Free?

Affinity Property has helped thousands of clients buy, sell and manage their investment properties over the past 15 years.  Below you will find our 7 Essential Tips for Renting Your Property Fast & Stress Free.

When you rent out your property, you are competing with thousands of other landlords to attract the eyes, ears and attention of potential tenants.  Some suburbs have higher vacancy rates and many more rental properties than neighbouring suburbs.  So the big question is: “How do you stand out?”

7 Essential Tips for Renting Fast & Stress Free

STEP 1

Preparation & Presentation

Over 95% of properties leased in Australia today receive rental applications on-line.  Consequently, you must have attention-grabbing digital photos of your rental property in order to attract interested parties.

Before a property is advertised for rent, it is important to ensure you get plenty of high quality internal and external photos preferably by a professional, but only when the property is looking its very best.  Having professional photos of your property not only encourages people to look longer at your property, but can boost your asking price.  Key things to consider before arranging your photo shoot include:

  • Cleaning out gutters
  • Repaint the interior/exterior if required
  • Prune shrubs and trees
  • Mow the lawns
  • Re-mulch the garden beds
  • Power is on so the property doesn’t look dark and lighting can be used for photographs

Photography is an art and so is marketing your rental property. If you hire someone to take your photos, know what to avoid and how to best use photos to attract renters. Your photos should convey that you care about the presentation of your property.

If you need assistance with this step, CLICK HERE to arrange a FREE inspection of your property for advice and tips on presenting your property to the market.

STEP 2

Keep Your Appliances Current & Modern

A modern kitchen with stainless steel appliances is favourable to rental applicants. Air conditioners and dishwashers are also now considered an everyday essential household item. Including these in your rental property will not only increase the rental return but will provide you with a wider range of tenants while meeting market requirements.

There are some brilliant products that can help you transform the visual look and appeal of your appliances.  For example, stainless steel contact paper can be used to cover dishwashers, fridges, bench tops and a range of appliances to give your kitchen a huge lift.  For less than $70 you can update old appliances to look fantastic!  Check out Amazon where you can order on-line.

STEP 3

Stay on Top of Repairs & Maintenance

One way to attract and keep tenants is to ensure you attend to any repairs as soon as they are reported. Maintaining your property will make it a more attractive home to current and prospective residents. Attending to maintenance as the need arises, rather than one larger outlay, will also safeguard your property’s long-term capital value. 

To prepare your maintenance checklist, conduct your own mini walk-through inspection. Make note of all the items that need repair or improvement.  If your property hasn’t had any major maintenance for some time, you may need to address some or all of the following:

  • fresh paint throughout
  • minor landscaping and tidy up lawn & gardens
  • repair or replace any lights, fans and switches that are not working
  • service and/or replace air conditioners
  • check all window and door locks
  • check plumbing & all appliances are in working order
  • check roof & gutters are in good condition; repair as needed
If you require assistance with maintaining your investment property, Affinity Property has a register of qualified, reliable, licensed contractors in every building related trade.  We help our landlords with all maintenance issues and clients can easily log their maintenance requests on-line Maintenance Request

STEP 4

Value Adding

Small refurbishments and updates can be a profitable way to increase your rental yield and long-term tenant prospects. It is important to avoid over-capitalising, so concentrate on simple improvements and renovations.  

Improving the visual appeal of a property increases demand which in turn translates into shorter vacancy periods.

Property features that are important to most rental applicants include:
  • 2 bathrooms
  • good size kitchen with decent appliances
  • air-conditioned and/or ceiling fans
  • window and door security
  • indoor and outdoor family areas & play areas for children
  • covered alfresco area to enjoy the Queensland lifestyle
  • lock-up garage
  • fully fenced yards
  • easy care, attractive, low maintenance gardens
The street appeal of your property is very important. Maximising the number of rental applicants that are enticed through the front door is the first step towards ensuring you achieve the best possible rent.  Some of the best steps you can take to improve street appeal for your rental property include:

  • handsomely presented gardens and lawns
  • distinctive driveway
  • clear and well defined pathway to your front door
  • attractive front fence
  • tasteful touches to the front entry

STEP 5

Ensure Your Property Description Matches Your Market Rent

It is absolutely critical when writing your property description, you highlight items that are important to tenants. Things like entertainment areas, air conditioning, ceiling fans, car accommodation, solar panels, water tanks, pet-friendly, a dishwasher, heating, a pool, recent renovations, etc.

The target rent must match your description.  A premium property being rented at $800 per week needs to be advertised with high quality photos and a great description.

Talk up the key benefits of living in your property, such as  location (distance to schools, shopping, transport, etc.), NBN/fast broadband, new infrastructure and easy access to major highways or employment districts.

Put yourself in the tenant’s shoes – they are looking for a property in their price range that is comfortable, safe, convenient and offers stability.

While you don’t want to undersell your rental property, it is important you don’t alienate prospective tenants by asking too high a price or have your property sit vacant for an extended period. Remember that one weeks’ missed rent at $500 will quickly add up to more than $10 less per week asking price.

For an example of a highly successful property advertisement, check out the post below:

STEP 6

BE OPEN TO NEGOTIATION

A residential tenancy agreement (also known as a lease) is a contract between a landlord and a tenant.  There are many terms that can be negotiated in a lease including:

  • when rents can be reviewed
  • how much rents can increase
  • how many occupants can reside at the property
  • whether pets are allowed
  • running a home-based business from the property
  • making improvements to the property
  • who is responsible for garden maintenance
  • plus, a host of other conditions

The best tenancy agreements generally happen when the landlord and tenant are reasonable and negotiate in good faith.  Many tenants want longer term rental agreements where they have certainty of tenure and peace of mind.  Moving house can be very disruptive for kids schooling, ease of access to work and general daily living.  Most landlords want tenants who care for their properties, pay the rent on time and are respectful to neighbours.  The majority of landlords want fair market rent and have rent increases based on market conditions.  Given most landlords are paying off property loans, maximising net rental income is important to them.

For example, when you consider the fact that around 63% of Australian households own a pet of some kind, you can see how advertising ‘no pets’ will significantly reduce the number of applicants.  Allowing pets with responsible tenants may result in a longer term tenancy with fixed rental increases.  This gives peace of mind to both the tenant and the landlord.

To ensure your property is protected if you do allow pets, you can have the tenants sign a “Pet Agreement” whereby the tenant takes all responsibility for their pets. The correct Landlord Protection Insurance is also important when it comes to approving pets.

STEP 7

Ensure You Hire the Right Property Management Team for the Job

At Affinity we understand the importance of renting your property to the best possible tenant/s who will care for your property and ensure the property is maintained to a high standard. 
 
We also understand the importance of achieving the best possible rent and getting your property leased in the fastest possible time.

When you are searching for a property manager, we understand clients expect:
  • their property be well maintained
  • the property is rented quickly
  • rent is paid on time
  • risks are addressed promptly
  • rent is reviewed regularly to achieve the highest possible rent
  • minimise rental vacancy
  • the property manager maintains a good relationship with tenants

Affinity Property pride ourselves on renting properties quickly for our landlords and we provide a Service Guarantee to our clients.

We have very low days on market for rental properties and work extremely hard to maximise rental income for each landlord/client. 

We have industry-leading digital marketing capabilities and generate a lot of tenant demand through social media, direct marketing and traditional real estate web-portals.  A great rental department will advertise your rental property over a broad range of advertising platforms to ensure the greatest demand for your property.

Contact us today on (07) 3293 9100 to request a property management consultation regarding your property, or simply click ‘Request Appraisal’ below.