So summer is winding down and the start of September is fast approaching. Students from all over the island of Ireland and even further afield will descend on Galway city and county looking for accommodation for the academic year. The competition for these potential tenants is fierce and landlords hope to have 'no room at the inn'. And with the younger generation so active online these days, how your property is marketed on the net can be the difference in obtaining a tenant within a few days and having an empty room for a couple of months.
But do not worry, here at the advertiser.ie we have come up with some useful advice in how to promote your dwelling online.
1. Choose a popular housing site
It might seem blatantly obvious but what site on which an ad is placed has a huge bearing on how many people may view your property. There is a number of variables you must consider when selecting on which websites you wish to promote your house;
- How popular is the website? You want as many eyes as possible to see your ad so there is absolutely zero point in using a site which no one knows about even if it cost effective for your pocket. Classifieds.advertiser.ie had over 377,000 page views last month; that is a huge number of potential tenants who could see that you have a room to rent.
- The layout of the web page? It does not matter how brilliant your ad is, if the website is awful looking and inconvenient to use people will not make the effort to look at it, ergo leaving your ad unseen.
2. Do not be afraid to use social media
There are loads of social media sites at present but the biggest and most commonly used is Facebook. Facebook has a vast array of groups where people put up rooms and houses to rent. The House Hunting Galway (for sound people ) group on the site has over 22,000 members and each post attracts regular interest within minutes of going up so get posting.
3. Use good photos and up to date photos for your ad
It is said 'you should never judge a book by its cover' but when it comes to online advertising most people do. Excellent photos highlighting the promise of your place are essential in attracting potential suitors for a viewing; if a photo makes a bedroom look dark and dingy, tenants will believe the house is too. Also it is imperative to use current pics of your house because a tenant will most likely get cold feet if an ad shows a wonderful double bedroom with a beautiful big bay window but it turns out to be a box room with no wardrobe. Naturally the thought process is that the landlord might just be cowboy and tenants will be put off.
5. Be available
If you state on the ad that you are available to be called from 9pm - 5pm and a tenant tries to make contact on a couple of occasions with no success, they will simply give up and call the next available property. Failing to answer a call puts off tenants as it may suggest that as a landlord you will be difficult to get a hold of if a problem may arise. Have that phone ready at all times.
So there you have it; a few helpful tips which will have your accommodation full in no time.
Advertise your accommodation to let now on classifieds.advertiser.ie. You can now place your ad online via mobile making it easier then ever before to get the tenants you're looking for.
