Rental listings that are complete with descriptions and images are more competitive and compelling. In fact, complete listings on HousingAnywhere.com receive 3 times more tenant reservations that the average property listing!

As the majority of tenants will be moving from abroad, your listings must be attractive enough to convince tenants to book and pay directly online, without viewing the place in person. This requires a lot of trust, which you can build by having a complete listings and profile.

Here are 5 simple tips and tricks on how to make your listings look great and attractive to tenants and rent out your property faster:

1. Upload at least 5 clear images

The first impression about you and your property is determined by the images you use. It’s definitely one of the most relevant aspect leading a potential tenant to click and book.

Take and upload at least 1 picture for every space of the property (bedroom, kitchen, living room) in order to allow tenants to imagine the space and have realistic expectations.

How to take images of your property:

• Make sure your property is clean and tidy.
• Ensure the rooms are bright and well lit. Open the curtains and take pictures with natural day-light. Also don’t hesitate even switching the lights on.
• Taking photos from a corner of the room, rather than from a side, gives a better perspective of the space and size.

You don’t have to spend money on a professional camera to take great shots of your place, a mid-range smartphone will work just as well!. Or if you want to go the extra mile you can even upload a video tour to your listing.

2. Write an attractive description

Writing a complete, personal and welcoming description allows your listing to be more appealing, engaging and increases the chance of receiving tenant enquiries.

The description should include information on you, your property, the other roomates, what appliances are included,, the neighborhood, transportation, proximity to the Universities, grocery stores and local hotspots. Use the description in your favor, highlighting the advantages and benefits of your property. It’s important to be honest and set the right expectations.

Having a clear and detailed description also allows you to respond in advance to potential doubts and questions, saving you a lot of time in the long run.

Do it properly once, and get it out of the way!

Read more about how to write an outstanding description.

3. Complete all the information on your listings

Insert ALL the information requested in the apposite fields on the listing page. The more information you include improves the quality of the listing. It will also increase it’s chances of being viewed by tenants.

Specify your minimal rental period and write in the description if you have a preferred length of stay and/or preferred move-in date.

Whenever the alternative is between "No/Yes" make a choice. It is better to select NO rather than leaving the field without answer!

The completeness of your rental listing is important in order to build trust with your future tenants. Complete listings also rank higher in the HousingAnywhere search result which means potential tenants will see your listings first!

4. Make sure your Calendar is up-to-date

When searching for a room, tenants must select a rental period which reflects their preferred move in and move out dates.

Keeping your Calendar up-to-date allows you to receive more relevant tenant requests, so you won’t need to spend time responding to tenants who can’t move on your preferred dates.

If your Calendar is not up-to-date, your listing won't show in the search results during the right period.

The Calendar allows you and your future tenants to have a clear view on available and unavailable periods.

To mark a period as available, select “Available”. Then insert Start and End date.

If you want to mark it as unavailable, select “Blocked”, and insert Start and End date. Once you have selected the available or unavailable time period click “save period” to save the changes.

Find out how to use the calendar feature to maximise tenant requests.

If you have many properties we also offer the opportunity to use “iCal” links to sync your Google Calendar or to implement “feed” integrations.

5. Make your profile look trustworthy

As with any online purchase, customers want to be sure that they’re purchasing something that’s legitimate. Having a profile that’s real, and reliable helps generate trust. The more information you include, the higher the chance someone will book your place.

How to increase the quality of your profile:

• Use a personal profile picture
• Use your real name
• Maintain a response rate above 90%. The response rate indicates your responsiveness to tenants. The faster you respond the more tenants will message you.
• Maintain your response time to be below 24 hours. The response time indicates how long on average it takes you to reply to your messages.
• Get more bookings on HousingAnywhere! The number of bookings you have is a sign of quality and success.

Now go to your "Listings", click "Edit" and make your listing STAND OUT!

When creating new listings, always go by the rule that more is more. Including clear and bright images, giving as much information as possible in the listings and on your profile, and making sure your calendar is up to date, will improve the trustworthiness of your overall profile. Complete listings give tenants the confidence to book your place without the need for in-person viewings and also assures that you'll only receive requests from tenants that are right for you. So a little bit of initial effort will save you a lot of time in the long run and help you rent out your accommodation quickly!

Found this guide useful?

Like, Share, and Subscribe