Guide for Getting Quality Tenants to Rent Your Boston Apartment

This is part two of the series on the Boston rental process from a Landlord’s perspective, specifically how to rent your apartment in Boston to the best tenants. There is often more time and effort needed to rent out your property than initially meets the eye, but I’m here to guide you step by step.

In Part 1 I discussed Step 1) Whether or not you should work with a professional leasing agent and Step 2) Pricing your apartment, so here are the next steps:

Step 3) Define Your Rental Terms

Before you start showing and advertising your apartment, think about what you are going to require from a tenant upfront (1^st month’s rent and last month’s rent or 1^st and security deposit etc.), how long the lease term will be, will you accept pets in your apartment (if it is a condo building check the condo or coop documents for any specific rules regarding renting your unit), will you accept undergraduate or graduate students in your apartment, what utilities will the tenant be responsible for, can the rental be furnished, will you want to meet your tenants ahead of time, and also know what you can and cannot do as a Landlord (a good place to start is the Boston Good Neighbor’s Handbook, a guide for Boston landlords and tenants).

Some things to consider: in Downtown Boston apartments that are dog friendly can often be priced at a premium, not knowing your rental terms and have documents ready to be signed can cause potential agreements to fall apart, and requiring too much upfront can, at times, deter tenants (some landlords require 1st & security, while others require 1st, last, and security).

Step 4) Get Great Pictures

An often overlooked step to renting out your property is getting not just good, but great pictures of your apartment.  It is 2012 and most people look online for apartments, they all enter online to read guides like the www.moveflat.co.uk flat share guide and the first thing and most important factor when people look at an online listing are the pictures.  If you work with a full service real estate agency, leasing agents will likely want to come by and price / preview the unit.  At this time we usually bring along a digital camera, take some good shots, and have them professionally edited.   There are some basic things you can do that make pictures look great and are some real estate tricks of the trade.

• Turn on all the lights and open the windows to make the room bright
• Tidy Up / Make the bed / Clean the kitchen etc.
• Remove clutter from the space that will be shot
• When taking pictures stand in the corner and shoot outwards to get the full scope of the room
• When taking pictures of the bathroom SHUT the Toilet (and watch out for the mirror reflection)
• Use a digital camera to take a lot of shots (front of the building, common areas, roof deck etc.) and choose the best to send to people or post online.

When people see professional looking pictures it makes the apartment pop compared to most online ads that have merely good, or even horrendous pictures.  This creates more interest in viewings, more viewings, more competition, and results in getting your place rented quicker and for more money. It’s THAT important.

Bonus tip: Shoot some video too. It doesn’t need to be “professional” but it really helps tenants understand the flow of an apartment and makes it “real” to them. We use video extensively here at Charlesgate Realty for that reason.

Stay tuned for the Next Steps in Getting Your Apartment Rented:

Step 5) Get the Word Out…coming soon

Step 6) Prepare and Schedule Showings…coming soon

photo courtesy of Jillian Anne Photography