Make your buy-to-let property investment appeal to as many renters as possible

If you have or are looking to invest in property, then you will need to be thinking several steps ahead to ensure you know you can rent out your property and at a profit.

Typically speaking and on average the more interest you get on a property the more offers your get and the more offers you get the higher rental value you are likely to charge on a property, thanks to the simple rule of supply and demand.

 

Buy the right property

The first step you can do to make your property appeal to as many tenants as possible is to buy the right property in the first place. This may seem like we are dodging the question, but if you have not yet purchased a property then do everything you can at this stage to ensure you are investing in a property that will have as high of a demand as possible.

 

• Look at demand in the area you are investing

 

• City and large town centres will have the highest number of active renters looking to rent

 

• Apartments that offer standard AST and STL tenancies will open your property up to 2 markets residential and serviced accommodation

 

• Developments that are aimed at both working professionals and students will also allow you to widen your tenant pool

 

• Properties that are in both a large city which is also home to a large university

 

• Don’t rule out any type of investment or location. Be open to the best opportunity with the biggest need at the time you are investing. Too many investors are set on a particular location or type of investment (student, HMO, holiday lets) which reduces your opportunity to finding the best investment

 

• Speak to an expert

 

 

Things you can do to your property to make it appeal to more renters

If you have already bought your property or already had a property that you are looking to let, then you will likely be putting it on the market in the hope for as many viewings and offers as possible. But before having your advert put out online, we recommend you do everything you can that will increase its chances.

 

• Great photography – having managed the advertising of a large portfolio of 4000+ properties for half a decade I know the importance of great photography. When your property is on a portal such as Rightmove or Zoopla it will get lost among 100s of competing flats. A great photo can easily make it stand out. In fact, by my own case study, I found once properties had a full set of professional photos added, it increased the number of enquiries by around 30% on average. Having a great photographer is not enough though, you will also want to stage the property as best you can. This may just mean cleaning the property and making the beds or staging furniture.

 

• Floorplans – Floorplans of your property will allow people searching for properties to visualise it in a practical manner, this is more than likely going to generate you more enquiries or filter out enquiries that may just be a waste of time.

 

• Furniture – The convenience that a fully furnished apartment brings can appeal to working professionals, students, and international tenants. IT will also allow you to charge more on rent.

 

• List all the benefits and selling point – make your property description as helpful as possible. Listing everything that may help attract viewings and offers.

 

• Convert spare rooms into bedrooms – This is most applicable to HMO properties. Many landlords will convert lofts, basements, and any spare space into an extra bedroom. This is popular for student HMOs properties as the landlord can charge per room and students don’t particularly mind losing the additional space for their occupancy period.

 

• Advertise on as many portals as possible – The more places you advertise the more interest you are likely to get. You will likely have an estate/ management agent doing this for you. So, when you choose an agent choose one that may have more scope to advertise your property.

 

• Keep property in good condition – Every coupe of years it may be a good idea to have the property refreshed or at least consider having it checked. This could be anything from just a fresh coat of paint to an entire refurbishment. Obviously, any kind of refurbishment will be expensive, so this would likely to be a once in a decade job. Something as simple as a clean exterior are new paint to remove wall marks can be done more regularly.

 

• Advertise in the right places for your property – You may need to use different portals depending on the type of investment you have. A standard residential will need to be advertised on Rightmove and Zoopla, a short-term-let will be best on sites such as booking.com or Airbnb, and student properties may be best with local agents to the area or if an HMO somewhere such as spareroom.com.

 

• Parking - It is getting rarer finding property that comes with a parking space, so if you can offer parking then you will be offering more than your competitors. If you don’t have parking then try to make it as clear as possible the easiest parking options for tenants. This helps remove a possible objection in advance.