As a Charlotte investment property owner, you know how important it is to keep tenants in your rental home. A vacant property costs you just as much money every month as an occupied one does.
You need to get the word out about your rental vacancy, and you need to do it fast. An experienced property manager knows all the best places to list homes for rent in Charlotte NC, so you can find new tenants as quickly as possible.
Read on to find out about the best websites for advertising your rental property.
Defining the Best Places to List a Rental Property
Many property owners achieve success by advertising on social media and local community notice boards. However, if you want to cast your net as wide as possible, your best option is to advertise your vacancies on one of the larger, established websites.
These all have a few similarities that make them ideal for rental property marketing.
Huge Reach
These long-established platforms employ the latest SEO tactics to ensure their listings appear on the first page of the SERP. You can try this for yourself.
When you type a search query for 'rental homes in North Carolina', you'll see that all the big names in property listings appear on your screen first. The same will happen when one of your potential tenants starts their search for a rental home.
Affordable Costs
Many of these sites allow you to list your property for free. Others charge a small fee or take a percentage of the rental rate for their services.
Some will add a fee if the property stays on the market for a certain amount of time.
Great User Experience
Rental property websites also invest money in designing user-friendly websites. These tactics ensure that online searchers don't become frustrated and close the website before they find your rental listing.
Users can filter their searches to help them find properties within their budget and area.
Good Reputation
Using a reputable listing site that has many positive reviews helps you meet your rental goals. Potential tenants are more likely to trust the information they find on well-known listing sites with good reputations.
Convenience
The power of the internet does all the work for you when you make use of these rental listings. Once you've decided on a fair rental price, arranged great photographs, compiled an appealing description for your rental property, and uploaded it onto the website, you can sit back and relax.
You can also list the same property on multiple platforms to expand your reach even further.
The Best Listing Sites for Attracting Tenants
Now that you know what you stand to gain by listing your rental property online, you're probably interested in knowing which websites you should consider first. These are the best places to list your North Carolina investment property:
Zillow
Zillow has millions of monthly users, but more importantly, this website named Charlotte as a likely contender for the hottest housing market in 2023, based on demand. That means many Zillow users are looking for homes in this area, making it a great candidate for listing your North Carolina rental home.
Other factors that make Zillow an excellent listing site include:
- A user-friendly interface
- Comprehensive search filters
- Easy access via a mobile app
- A free first listing
- Unlimited updates to your listing
- Price suggestions to help landlords
Zillow also runs basic background checks on applicants who express an interest in the rental properties listed on their website.
The major negative associated with Zillow is the high fees for paid listings once you've used up your first free listing.
Apartments.com
Despite its name, Apartments.com also lists duplexes, townhomes, duplexes, condos, and single-family homes.
It's a reputable site that charges people to apply for accommodation. This ensures you only engage with serious applicants.
You can list your home for free, but you can upgrade to a free premium listing for increased exposure. Prices vary depending on the type of property and your area.
Apartments.com partners with other sites to drive traffic to your listing and also provides free credit reports and background checks on all applicants. The applicant pays for these checks.
The site also has an easy-to-use app.
Trulia
Trulia falls under the Zillow umbrella and is one of the group's most-used platforms, with over 15 million monthly searches. It offers advanced search filters that make it easy for prospective tenants to find what they're looking for.
The site also has a mobile app to assist customers with sales and rentals. You can list your property on Trulia for free, and you may include unlimited photos and videos.
When you list a property on Zillow, it automatically appears on Trulia, too. The platform also offers handy tools for landlords to manage their listings and applications.
Realtor.com
One of the best-known real estate platforms in the USA, Realtor.com, has a vast audience. On this website, renters can search for properties using advanced filters or the mobile app.
Listing your property on Realtor.com is free, and landlords also get to make use of software to engage leads. It also has links to useful financial calculators for landlords.
You can only list a property on Realtor.com if you're a licensed agent, but the company also offers the Avail platform for those who want to list their rental property on their own.
Zumper
Zumper has been around since 2012 and offers an effective platform for a flawless rental process.
It's easy for landlords and tenants to use, and it offers several free services. These include free listings, screening of prospective tenants' credit scores and eviction histories, and online rent collection.
Zumper's landlord-to-renter matching process simplifies everything, but Zumper does not have as large an audience as the other sites mentioned above.
Hire a Property Manager for Effective Property Marketing
The easiest way to find the best places to list a rental property is to do a few online searches of your own. These will soon reveal which websites come to the fore when you search for homes for rent in Charlotte, NC.
Alternatively, you can sign up with Bottom Line Property Management. We take care of every aspect of property management, including rental marketing, tenant screening, and lease management.
When you work with us you enjoy the benefit of over 55 years of property management expertise. Get in touch today, and let's talk about how we can help you with your Charlotte investment properties.
