Getting the best from your Trademe advertising.

Many people miss out on getting great tenants for their property because they don’t know how to attract them with a great Trademe advert. Follow these hints to avoid being one of them.

1. Accentuate the positive. People won’t infer from your advert what you have to offer them. Make it plain, and repeat if necessary. What is it close to? What do you love most about the property (if the answer to that is ‘the rent’ you might need to have another think).

2. Take great photos. Choose a sunny day to take photos on. Dark and dingy won’t get you great tenants. Light and bright is the way to go. If you don’t have a wide angle lens on your camera, get one. Most cameras don't take good indoor photos because the angle of view is too small.

3. Clean up! A building site or bomb site won’t attract neat and tidy people. If your current tenants have stuff everywhere, politely ask them to move it for the photos, or ask if they mind you doing it. You don't need to do a proper job of it. Dirty dishes can be hidden in the sink or oven, dirty clothes under the bed, or simply moved behind you when you take the photo. Better yet, take photos when the property is at its best, and re-use those as often as you need to.

4. More information is better than less. You are not writing a newspaper classified so you're not paying by the word, so make the most of it. Use adjectives! Don’t bother using abbreviations (for example: s/s, gge, br, wir), you don’t need to, and they can confuse people.

5. Know what to leave out. Do you need to mention noisy neighbours? Some things are relative, what bothers you won’t bother someone else, so don’t include stuff that may go either way.

6. Be honest. You do need to truthfully sell your property, so don’t say it has a heat pump when it has no heating at all. To do otherwise could land you in hot water.

The goal is to get people enquiring about your property. You want them to come to your property and see it for themselves. Why not list the open homes times there? Or how to apply? The easier you make it, the better the response will be, so the more applicants you have to choose the best tenant from.

See examples of great property adverts here: http://www.trademe.co.nz/Members/Listings.aspx?mcat=0350-&member=2388871

Not sure you can do this? Get help here: http://www.rentalresults.co.nz

Should you Spy on your Property Manager?

How well are they doing their job? Should you get a friend to ring to ask about renting your property and see how they answer the phone?

If you do, make sure they have a convincing back-story. A good property manager will ask them questions to see if they are suitable for the property, and a genuine applicant. If they say ‘hey stranger, whoever you are, just go around and peer in the windows, I’m sure it will be fine, I trust you’, or worse ‘come grab a key, show yourself through’, your property is not in good hands. The security of your property is important. Even if you think it is empty with nothing to steal, a thief will find something worth taking, and always the cost of setting that right is greater than any street value.

A good property manager will find out who will be living in the property. Them and their fifteen closest mates in your 3 bedroom property? If so, they should be gently told it is unsuitable for them. Why are they moving? Because they were evicted? If so, a good property manager will tell them speaking to their former landlord is an essential part of the letting process, perhaps they would like to explain the situation before the landlord is called. Why do they want to move into the area? People with connections to an area are more likely to be long-term tenants than those who are ‘just trying it out’. Are they working at the moment? While staying within the confines of the Human Rights Act, a good property manager should find out if they can pay the rent and their other bills. You are not a charity shelter. Rent should not be more than one third of their income. More than this, people struggle to pay week after week. This question also finds out if they will be working from home. Some properties just don’t suit home industry.

So, if you do have a friend snoop, make sure they are prepared to answer these questions, and convincingly. Great property managers have very well developed ‘spidey senses’ and can tell when someone is fibbing. Don’t get mud on your face by trying this and failing. You won’t build a relationship with your property manager. And frankly, if you don’t trust them, why did you hire them? Move on, they will thank you for it.