QUOTE (RebeccaBryan @ Nov 10 2008, 08:38 AM) OK this is what I do and it has worked well lately. I still have 1 more place to rent out of a recent 4 vacancies.
I have found that the websites haven`t brought me any calls or even inquiries dispite my good ads and great pictures, so I decided something else needed to be done about it. I posted signs in the yards of all of my rental properties, even the ones that were already rented. I let the tenants know what I was doing so that they didn`t wonder what was going on. (All properties are in close prox. to each other) Then I posted signs on the main streets. Then I used a phone message on my home phone that outlines what I have for rent. I had 4 properties at the start so I just had a message stating that I had 2, 3, 4, and 5 bedroom suites for rent and my cell phone # to call if they wanted more information. I would be out and about and my cell phone was ringing off the hook!!! I had a lot of tire kickers, but I got the calls I needed and the rents I was looking for. I have just one left, and I`m toying with the idea of lowering the rent, but not after some last stitch efforts to put up better signs in different places. All I have is "for rent" and the number on the signs.
Yes, you are not supposed to put up signs on the boulevards here in Edmonton, but I have found that the city has been leaving them alone, where as a few months ago, the moment you put them up they would disappear and it would be a wasted effort. Maybe they found it to hard to police.
"note" You will get many calls from this method and if the calls quit coming in, you know your signs must be missing so go and check and make sure they are visible!!
Great ideas, Rebecca.
Does anyone have property managers that are willing to go this extra step? Is it a reasonable request to ask a PM to do this?