Myrtle Beach has been a growing rental market for many years. With so much demand for good rental housing, you might think that there’s barely any need to market your rental home.
But marketing is more important than ever. This is a hot rental market and a competitive one, but rents have finally leveled off and even dropped in some cases, compared to the record-breaking rental increases we saw over the last few years.
You want to hang onto your residents so you’re not facing a vacancy. And if you do have a vacancy, you want to place a quality tenant quickly, avoiding the cost of that unoccupied property and ensuring that your rental income is consistent and recurring.
Here are the best tips and tricks we can offer as Myrtle Beach property management experts. When it comes to marketing your rental home, you want to invest in more than just a listing.
Prioritize Photos and Visuals in Online Listings for Myrtle Beach Rentals
Excellent photos will help you market your property.
Don’t be lazy when it comes to the pictures you take and share in listings and on social media. Residents looking for a rental home have hundreds of listings to scroll through. In order to motivate them to stop on your listing, you want to provide attention-grabbing photos.
The pictures, we promise, do most of the selling.
So, give prospects a good idea of how the property looks. Provide a first impression that reaches them on an emotional level if you want them to continue on to the description or to show any interest in seeing or renting the home.
When it comes to photos, we like to see a lot of them. But quality is just as important as quantity. The cameras on phones can provide professional-grade shots these days, and if you focus on the right angles and pay attention to the right lighting, you can get some marketing-worthy pictures.
Every listing should include marketing photos that show:
- The front of the property and any outdoor space
- The kitchen, with some close-ups on appliances, especially if they’re new or stainless
- Bedrooms
- Bathrooms
- Common areas
If there are any special features, such as kitchen renovations, outdoor space, or garage parking, make sure those photos are included. If you have a garden bath tub or a walk in closet, show them.
Write an Interesting and Detail-Driven Description
Once you have the photos as the centerpiece of your listing, you need the right words. Your listing needs a description that’s detailed, but also concise. Provide all the necessary information and leave your tenants interested in learning more. Highlight the perks of your rental property, including its size, location, and any special features or amenities.
Always include your contact information and the next steps if someone wants to schedule a showing. Mention if pets are allowed and don’t forget to include rental amount and security deposit requirements.
Where to Market Your Property: Online Sites and Social Media
Property listing websites such as Zillow, Trulia, HotPads, and Realtor.com have become pretty well-known to anyone who is renting out a home or looking to rent a home. You have to include your listing on these sites, even if they seem overrun by the competition. A lot of tenants in Myrtle Beach use these sites to find their next home. A lot of them are signed up for alerts when homes that meet their criteria become available.
With online rental sites, you can market your rental property to a broader audience of people who are ready to move.
These sites get millions of hits every day, and you can take advantage of this massive audience to market wisely. Ensure that you provide accurate information about your property, including images, rental price, amenities, and location. Also, respond to inquiries promptly to avoid missing out on potential tenants.
Do what you can to syndicate your listings so you’re not spending a lot of time uploading the same photos and descriptions to each site one at a time. As a property management company in Myrtle Beach, we have this technology in place already. Reach out to us if you’d like to leverage our marketing power.
Social media platforms are perhaps even more powerful than those rental sites. Platforms such as Facebook and Instagram have millions of users worldwide, and this presents an opportunity for you to reach a wide audience. We have even seen listings on LinkedIn and TikTok.
You can create eye-catching posts with high-quality images of your rental property and share them on your social media pages. Also, you can use paid social media advertising to target specific audiences that are looking for rental properties in your area of location.
The best part of social media marketing is that you can immediately engage with potential tenants or other real estate agents. You can answer questions, send information through direct messages, and ask your network to share what you have to offer.
Respond to Inquiries Promptly
Even with the best listings and the most eye-catching social media presence, you’re not going to successfully rent your property if you don’t respond to inquiries.
You have to answer the phone and click “reply” on the emails. Don’t avoid the prospective residents who are trying to reach you. Good tenants have a list of homes they’re likely interested in. Why give them a reason to move onto the next property on their list?
Do a bit of pre-screening as you’re talking to them, answer their questions about your property for rent, and be quick and accommodating when it comes to scheduling showings.
There’s a lot that goes into effective marketing, especially with an online marketplace that’s moving so quickly and evolving every day. We’d be happy to help you market your Myrtle Beach rental property and find the most qualified tenants in the market. Let’s talk about your property and what we can do for you.
Please contact us at J & P Unlimited. We manage investment properties in Longs, Myrtle Beach, Conway, Surfside Beach, Murrells Inlet, Socastee and the surrounding areas.
