Before you can find a tenant and start collecting rent, you must prepare your rental property for showings.
Creating rental appeal is essential if you want to sign a lease with a high-quality tenant. Without it, you’ll struggle to gather interest in your unit to begin with.
Here are seven staging and showing tips to make your rental properties more appealing:
- Make Necessary Repairs
Before presenting your property, you should make sure preventative maintenance and minor repairs are taken care of. Potential repairs may include:
- Fixing door and cabinet hinges
- Repairing dents and cracks in the drywall
- Replacing broken door and window locks
- Refreshing insulation
- Making sure appliances are in working order
It’s a good idea to wait until your property is officially in service before you make expensive repairs. You can’t deduct repair expenses from your taxes until your property is ready to rent out.
- Deep Clean Your Unit
Cleaning rental properties is one of the first steps of the staging process. This involves throwing away old furniture, polishing the flooring, cleaning carpets, and getting rid of any dirt and debris.
After you’ve cleaned everything, you should add a fresh coat of paint to any rooms that need it. Be sure to use warm and neutral colors, and don’t forget to repaint doors and trimming.
- Prioritize Curb Appeal
Don’t neglect your property’s exterior. The first step to improve curb appeal is landscaping. Make sure the lawn is mowed, weeds are pulled, branches and shrubbery are trimmed, gutters are clear, and flower gardens are in good shape. It’s even a good idea to add some in-season flowers to your yard.
Beyond landscaping, you want to make sure your building’s exterior is well polished. Be sure to power wash driveways, sidewalks, and siding, and add a layer of paint to anything that needs it (the front door, for example).
- Emphasize Your Property’s Best Features
Maybe your property has a large, elegant fireplace. Maybe it has spacious walk-in closets, a great view, built-in bookshelves, a private patio—you name it. Be sure you highlight whatever features make your property special. The goal here is to set your unit apart from the competition. By emphasizing these features, you’ll give prospective tenants something to remember your property by.
- Choose Appropriate Furnishings
When staging rental properties, it’s important to give each of your rooms an identifiable purpose. An effective way to do this is to add basic furniture. A couch, lounge chair, and coffee table in the living room can help prospective tenants envision themselves relaxing at home. Because remote work has become increasingly common, placing a desk in a separate room to designate it as an office space might also be a good idea.
Keep the furnishings simple. You should also cater the furnishings to reflect the location. A beachfront home may be more attractive with wicker chairs, for example, while an apartment downtown would be better suited by modern furniture.
- Accessorize… But Not Too Much
You want your property to feel homey. Filling your unit with basic accessories like books, towels, and plants can help the space feel full and livable. With that said, you want to avoid clutter. It’s important to let your prospective tenants fill out most of the space with their own imagination.
As such, you should avoid personalizing the space too much. Family photos, pet accessories, refrigerator magnets, religious objects, and children’s items may keep a renter from connecting with the space.
- Have Inviting Lighting
You want your unit to be warm and inviting for tenants, and one of the most important aspects of this is lighting. The best approach is to maximize natural lighting. Make sure to capitalize on all the windows your unit has to offer.
When natural lighting needs a boost, a good technique is to layer light sources. While overhead lighting is good, it can be a bit harsh sometimes. Adding floor and table lamps is a great way to help soften the ambience.
Conclusion
By following these tips for staging and showing your rental units, you’ll make your properties feel more inviting and better maintained. Prioritizing these staging techniques will set your properties apart from the rest, and you’ll be able to fill your units quicker.
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