How to Get Quality Single-Family Rental Leads

As our 2023 Real Estate Marketing Trend Report shows, generating more leads is consistently top of mind for real estate professionals. And as the market shifts, expanding into the single-family rental market is a key way to ensure you have a steady stream of business. 

Whether you regularly show single-family rentals or want to enter the space, we have seven tips for thriving in the single-family rental market. Keep reading to learn how to get quality rental leads and why they’re essential. 

1. Have a website 

You’ve heard it a hundred times before, but the real estate market is shifting online. According to NAR’s 2022 Home Buyers and Sellers Generational Trend Report, 95% of home buyers began the search for homes online, and only 19% contacted a real estate agent as their first step. The same can be assumed for those looking for single-family rentals. 

If you don’t have a website that showcases your listings and gets your name out to your target audience, you’re missing out. 

Additionally, consider learning and using blogging and SEO tactics to further target those looking for rental properties. 

2. Use professional photography 

To attract quality leads, you need professional rental property photography. As most of those looking for single-family rentals begin their search online, you need images that catch their attention. 

Without professional real estate photos, you may be losing potential leads before you even have a chance to connect with them! Besides professional real estate photos, consider adding virtual tours and floor plans to give potential tenants a complete idea of the space. 

That way, when they reach out, you know they’re incredibly interested in the property and likely to convert. 

3. Create a lead generation capture form

While having a website is the first step in targeting your ideal audience and generating leads, you have to capture those leads. 

Having a lead gen capture form on your website gives you all the information you need to begin converting those who are interested. 

A good lead gen capture form should gather potential leads:

• Name
• Email
• The ideal area to rent
• Dates they’re looking for 
• Requirements for SFR (number of bedrooms, bathrooms, etc.)

By gathering this information, you’re essentially screening your leads, ensuring you have a match—or the ability to find them the perfect single-family rental—based on their wants and needs. 

And if you don’t have what they’re looking for now, you can still reach out and let them know you’ll contact them if you have something in the future. Doing so ensures you’re nurturing leads with the potential to convert them. 

4. Use paid social ads 

While paid social ads and social media marketing are a fairly new concept to most industry professionals, they’re extremely useful for targeting those looking for rental properties.  

Paid social ads allow you to narrow down who’s seeing your ads, ensuring you’re growing awareness of your brand in the right place. For example, the real estate market has pushed many Millennials and young potential home buyers out of the market due to high prices. 

Since they’re looking for stability in a rental property and ideally want the perks of a single-family home, that’s who you want to target. 

5. Market yourself to property management companies 

Building relationships with rental property management companies is crucial to generating quality leads in the rental space. 

As property managers and management companies deal with renters in all stages of the rental process, building relationships can help you get more clients. You can offer yourself or your team as showing agents to hopefully become a preferred listing agent in the future. 

Although it may take time to build relationships, if you show you’re dependable and available, you’ll begin to see more leads and referrals.

6. Become a local market expert

Positioning yourself as a local market expert is crucial in succeeding in the rental space. Knowing the area and the ideal tenant for it gives you an advantage over your competitors. 

Additionally, you’ll likely generate more referrals if your rental leads have a great experience with you. It’s no longer enough to find tenants the perfect rental—you also need to create a lasting experience they want to share with others. 

7. Don’t forget what works 

While digital marketing is vital in the rental and single-family space, that doesn’t mean you should avoid using other marketing tactics. 

If clients see your rental property online, they’ll likely want to view it in person, so holding open houses can help you generate additional quality leads. While only one tenant will end up in the property, anyone who took the time to visit the open house is a warm lead! 

By connecting with them at the open house, you can build a relationship, learn what they’re looking for, and convert them in the future. 

Also, don’t forget the power of a good listing description! Writing a listing description that sells can be the tipping point in whether leads contact you. 

Rental property marketing with Virtuance

Marketing your single-family rental listing with professional real estate photography is a proven way to generate quality leads, and Virtuance can help. 

Virtuance offers nationwide single-family rental property photography, aerial photography, 3D tours, floor plans, and more. Whether you’re marketing one listing or 50, we can help scale your marketing efforts to generate more leads and close more deals. 

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