10 Cheap Ways to Advertise Your Rentals These tips are recommended by landlords nationwide.
1) Word of mouth from current residents.
2) Sign posted at the rental. People in the area see it and tell other friends who might be interested, or even someone looking in the area. Realtors have been using this one for years.
3) Craigslist post with an attractive, eye-catching subject line.
4) In a small town, advertise at the post office or local grocery store with a flyer or on their bulletin board if available.
5) Put it in the local sale or shopper’s paper for free in some small towns or for very low-cost.
6) Your own website. Get your own website from MrLandlordRentalSites.com while the special deal is currently running. College-age and younger adults shop for housing online. No online presence means they will not see your offering.
7) Email. As I start to accumulate a database of past applicants and past renters, I send an email blast to those folks.
8) If renting to college students, hand write an ad on 3×5 index cards, walk the campus and post them in the buildings on bulletin boards.
9) Use POSTLETS.com html listings on Craigslist – Post early and post often
10) Multiple Yard Signs at different multi-units. Put yard signs at other multi-units that you own. If you have an empty apartment at the place on Main Street, go ahead and put up a yard sign at your place on Center Street too, even if there are no vacant rentals at Center Street.
15 Best All Purpose Cleaners for Your Rentals
1) If I had to get a house ready with only one product it would be 409. It’s great for mildew on white screen doors. I’ve used it to scrub sticky stuff off of tile. It’s also great for cabinet tops and refrigerators. Editor’s Note: 409 received the most votes by landlords in our very informal survey on MrLandlord.com.
2) Awesome from the Dollar Tree store (2nd highest vote-getter on our informal landlord survey)
3) Softscrub gel with bleach on tubs and toilets
4) Magic erasers for switch covers and walls
5) Old English on wood trim, window sills, etc.
6) We mop the floors with Pinesol and hot water.
7) When all is clean we use regular Car Wax on the tub, marble tops, stove top, vent-hoods, and all faucets.
8) Glade or Febreeze the return filter and inside every cabinet and drawer.
9) To cut through grease and make things shine quickly, I use Windex Glass cleaner.
10) Sudsy Ammonia sells for $1 for 1/2 gallon and cuts through nicotine / tar stains as well as greasy kitchen grime. It also removes layers of floor wax and is a good, cheap, all-round cleaner.
11) My Number One go-to is Commercial Ammonia. Be aware that this stuff is a higher concentration than the stuff you buy in the grocery store (10% vs. 3%). The nice part is that you only have to add a splash (way less than a quarter cup) to a bucket. It’s not sudsy or scented, so you don’t have to rinse it after cleaning. A gallon runs in the $4.00 range and lasts a long time. The only caveat is to make sure that you are careful about using it with Comet-like cleaners (mixing ammonia and bleach is NOT good). I use this for almost everything except for wood floors (I use clear water and MAYBE a few drops of Dawn in the bucket here), the really bad parts of ovens (Sooper Dooper Oven Cleaner here) and something that needs abrasion (sinks and toilets, etc).
12) I remember reading an article a long time ago about selling your home and they did a study on how “clean” Buyers perceived the home to be. Whenever there was a bleach smell to the home (particularly bathrooms and kitchen, obviously) the Buyers scored the home significantly “cleaner” than any other cleaning solutions. I spray bleach into the sink and toilet just before I show the place for the smell factor.
13) I use powdered Cascade dish detergent for almost all cleaning, especially if it’s a stubborn greasy surface.
14) For soap scum and to clean grout, I use Kaboom. It really works!
15) I use Barkeepers Friend for porcelain and stainless steel sinks and anywhere that has rust on it.
The above tips are shared by regular website contributors to the popular MrLandlord.com Q and A forum. To receive a free sample of Mr. Landlord newsletter, call 1-800-950-2250 or visit their informative Q&A Forum at LandlordingAdvice.com, where you can ask landlording questions and seek the advice of other rental owners 24 hours a day.