Have you had the experience of not able to rent out your rental property despite getting a number of prospective tenants to view your property? An you think hey, that can't be right, because you heard from your friend earlier, who managed to rent out his or her property without much of a problem. What went wrong? One of the problem, might be, your rental property IS NOT IN GOOD SHAPE!
Quite often, i hear complaints from property owners that they were not able to secure a tenant for many months, only to find out that their rental property is in such a lousy shape! I mean, things like a well-kept and clean place, properly organized furniture, keep the place nice and tidy especially visually inviting areas such as living room and kitchen, functioning and proper lighting, etc....these are essentials in order to greet your "guests" the positive way! It's like meeting your partner's parents for the first time...you need to dress up "appropriately"! Many people have mistaken that as soon as they put up the ads (of their property for rent), prospective tenants who walk in would just fall in "love" with their place or so much so that they will simply find it "irresistible". In fact, one of the simplest way to testing that "irresistible" theory is by putting yourself in the shoe of the prospective tenant, i.e., ask yourself how you feel when you walk into the house? If the feeling is negative, very likely the prospective tenant would feel the same too!
Up until now, I always have very little difficulty in renting out my properties and that is because, i understand this concept of "putting yourself in his shoe" very well. With vast competition and tenants simply spoiled for choice, it is important to "package" your property so that it becomes more rentable than others. Just think about it this way, how would you market your product effectively against your competition? Just imagine a can of coke with just a basic label and without packaging, would anyone buy it? Answer is simple, packaging is obviously a critical element. However, a word of caution is that you should avoid packaging your property overzealously until you put up the most advance design and overspend your budget. After all, "beauty" is in the eye of beholder. The right "taste" can be quite personal, really. So, to me, just make it SIMPLE, PRESENTABLE AND NICE will do. How i define this is really by thinking through how I would like to see and have if I were a tenant myself. Obviously, some level of comfort and convenience are essential ingredients to consider.
These are my top 10 must-do list to make your property appealing:
- Put on a fresh coat of paint. Repaint the dead old or worn-off spot at the very least
- Spring clean the house (so that you won't see any dead ants or cockroaches lying on the floor!)
- If your unit comes with wooden pargue or marble flooring, give it a "polish" state in order to return some gloss over the surface.
- Fix any problems you may have encountered, such as water leakage, door rust, squeeky sound, broken furniture or lighting, etc.
- Service all the air-conditioners (and regularly do so every 6 to 12 months)
- Organize all the furniture and fittings...turning your place into "move-in" condition
- Fix some nice decorative items such as picture or painting hanging on the walls. However they should blend with the overall theme of the property and they may not need to be expensive
- Get ready some basic utilities such as toilet roll and hand wash detergent. These things make your place extra homely!
- Check all electrical items should be in working condition. If not, send them for repair or replace them.
- Extend welcome gestures and smile, when meeting your prospective tenants for the first time!
By keeping your property in GOOD SHAPE, you should be able to achieve a higher success rate of securing new tenants and retaining them!
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