Do you need a website if you own rental property?

 

The best answer to this question is yes, you do need a website if you own rental property.

If you had a vacant rental before the internet was invented you:

  • Put a sign in the yard
  • Placed an ad in the local newspaper
  • Handed out fliers
  • Posted it on some popular boards around town
  • Told everyone you know that you had a vacant property for rent
  • Sat home and waited for the phone to ring
  • Hoped you would find someone to rent your vacant

 

Before The Internet

In those days, you really were confined to advertising your property locally and to your friends and family.  You spend a lot more time and money trying to get your vacant home rented. 

 

It was stressful, time consuming and unreliable.  Your fliers and signs place on popular boards would be taken down and thrown away. Trying to figure out if the people you were meeting were good, solid potential tenants was a lot harder as well.

 

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The Internet Is Here

With the invention of the internet, getting the word out about your vacant rental property is much easier than ever before.  The internet has dozens of sites that allow you to post your rental and the turn-around time for actually talking to someone is much shorter.  Email, texts and cell phones make it much easier for someone to contact you and quickly get more information about the property for rent.

 

Make It Easy For Tenants To Find You

Landlords that have several rentals or even hundreds of rentals can make it even easier for a potential tenant to find them by having a website. A website gives you a central piece of internet real estate to list all of your available or soon to be available rental properties.  It also gives you a place to put your name, the company name and your contact information.  Owning a website allows you to become well known not just in your area but to anyone on the internet. 

 

Add Credibility

A professional website gives you credibility.  There are a lot of scammers out there in the rental market.  We have all hear the horror stories about a landlord with a vacant property that had someone move into their home and they don’t even know them. Someone else listed the home as theirs, found a tenant and put them in the house.  It can be very scary for potential tenants when they are looking to rent a new place to live. They don’t know who you are and wonder if you are legitimate.

 

You Are More Trustworthy

Landlords that have websites are much more trustworthy and your rentals will be seen as more valuable.  Good quality pictures that you post on your website allow potential tenants to see that how your rental home is different from others in the area.  3-D technology allows anyone viewing the home online to actually feel like they are walking through the home.  They can get a sense of size and the flow of the home. 

 

Potential tenants that are internet savvy will tend to be a step up from a lot of people that look at your home.  They will arrive at the home better prepared and will likely have already decided that they like and want to rent the home.  All of these things are important as a landlord because you want smart tenants that see the value in renting a home from you. 

 

It makes your job much easier because they have already “seen” the home digitally.  There shouldn’t be any surprises.  Quite frankly, in this day and age, you don’t look like a legitimate landlord if you don’t have a website. 

 

Be Open 24/7

A website is open 24 hours a day.  Do you have a job and work from 9-5?  Well, not every person interested in renting from you will have the same work hours. Some work at nights, some work part time, etc. and having a website allows people to come and go on their schedule.  This is great because you can do your thing and they can do theirs which means neither of you is inconvenienced.  They can contact you digitally and you can respond when you have time.

 

Express Your Self

Having your own website gives you a voice and way to express yourself. Create content on how to be a great tenant, how to schedule maintenance call or how to get financial help.  This will help your website be viewed as a great place to get relevant rental information.  You will get a lot of visitors.  That can help you down the road when you have another house to rent.  Have form that potential tenants can fill out to get on a “wait list” for new houses that will be available soon.

 

Grow Your Business

As a landlord, you need a website to grow your business.  But I have found that many people are afraid of the technical aspect of setting up a website so they don’t get one. They would rather just muddle along using sites like Craigs List to list their house and just skip the entire hassle of a website.

 

Having a website doesn’t have to be a huge headache. You do not have to be technical wiz in order to create a wonderful website that attracts people.  The main advantage of a website is lead generation.  You can use lead generation to attract people to your website.  The goal is to attract people who are interested in renting or buying from you. Your goal as a landlord is to find people who want to rent a property from you or possibly do some type of lease option with you. 

 

Your goal as a landlord is to find people who want to rent a property from you or possibly do some type of lease option with you. Click To Tweet

Point Of Contact

When you create a website, you have a low key way for interested parties to contact you about your property.  It allows them to explore the house you have for rent and the services you offer without having to actually talk to anyone. This appeals to a lot of people.  Many of them just want to see what you have to offer.  Add a contact form or an email and it sweetens the deal for them because they haven’t had to make a phone call yet.

 

Long Term

A website can’t be taken down and thrown away.  If you have a website, it is there until you take it down. You can draw more people to your site by posting helpful articles that again, stay there until you remove them.  Anyone that finds your site can check out your articles and posts and get an idea about your personality and how you operate.

 

OnCarrot

One of the best places that I have found to get a nice looking website is a site called OnCarrot.  They have basic templates for many different businesses and there are several templates that would be great for landlords. There are options for just about anyone.

 

A nice looking website helps you increase the number of leads you generate, makes you look professional and trustworthy and helps you increase your efficiency by allowing people to visit your site 24/7.  

 

Draw Traffic To Your Business

You can draw traffic from many different places and send it all to your website.  This allows you to present a consistent image to anyone looking to rent a property from you.  Facebook is another poplar way to advertise your rental properties.  Have you ever thought of using Facebook to find prospective tenants?  I do and is a great place to showcase your rental property.   Find out how to use facebook to generate more leads. 

 

The bottom line is that every business should have a website.  If you are a landlord, you have a business with a valuable service that you are providing.  A website gives you credibility and makes you look professional.  No one wants to rent a home from someone who isn’t going to treat them right.

 

Stop losing leads and check out OnCarrot now.  You can have a new website up and running for your business in no time.