Strategies to Secure a Tenant
As an investor enters the investment market one of their greatest fears is often that they won’t have a tenant in place from the day of settlement, after all no tenant equals no rent.
If you’re buying a property that you’re planning to rent out there are a few strategies that we can put in place to help you ensure that a tenant is in place as soon as possible.
Negotiate Early Access
The first strategy we like to use is to negotiate early access to the property. This means that prior to settlement we negotiate for our property manager to access to the property, advertise it and show prospective tenants through. This will give us time to find you a good tenant and secure them before settlement and thereby setting up your tenancy to commence as soon as you take possession.
Of course, whether we will be able to do this is dependent upon the circumstances of the person selling the property, for example when they are able to move out before settlement but by keeping open good lines of communication between our sales and property management teams, we aim to do the best we can in this regard.
If the property is vacant then it should be no problem and if there’s already a tenant in place, then that’s great because most times they are willing to stay on under the new owner.
Negotiate Settlement to Avoid Peak Times
Another strategy we like to use, especially around peak times like Christmas and New Year, is to try and negotiate in the sale process to settle outside those peak times. Try to avoid the lead up to Christmas and the holiday period when agents and solicitors are closed for a break. Also, there are not too many prospective tenants around during this time.
If you can extend your settlement to the middle of January, for instance, then you are likely to have more tenants available and looking for a home to rent.
Set your Rent to Meet the Market
Our final strategy is to price your property and a fair market value. Realistically, if your highest priority is to secure a tenant as quickly as possible then setting too high a rental price could be a mistake.
It is our experience that a fairly priced rental property will feature high on the list of options for tenants and if your property is matching the market rent-wise then you will have genuine interest from prospective tenants.
If you follow these key strategies, we believe that you will put yourself in the best possible position for securing a tenant in your investment property from day one.
