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Many of you aren’t here yet. You don’t have any properties to fill. So save this, and read it again when you’ve got some properties. If you DO have some properties, are in an area where it might be a little harder to fill properties, or just want to not have to deal with filling properties much, this is more timely.

When I first started investing ‘no money down’, the market in my area was abysmal. I could pick up houses (once I learned how to properly market), but getting decent people into them with a decent deposit or option payment was difficult. But I found through much trial and error how to easily and quickly fill my properties.

First, let’s take a look at the basics. In real estate, the old adage is ‘Location, location, location’. I think this mostly came from retail space, but the saying holds true for rentals too. I have a few condos that are close to downtown in an area that is somewhat desirable. Good community, great park just up the street, desirable area. A couple weeks ago a long-term tenant in one of my condos called saying she wouldn’t be renewing her lease, and would be moving out at the end of the month.

Sad as I was to lose a good tenant, my heart was all a-flutter at the thought of yet another raise in rent (rent’s been going up again here - FINALLY!). I put an ad on craigslist (one of my favorite spots), and got a few calls later that day. As I was going over to the condo that next day to inspect it, I called a few of the folks back. One woman that I got ahold of said she’d already taken a place, but could she look at mine ‘just in case’. It took her 15 minutes looking at my place, she wrote me a check for the deposit and filled out an application. She moves in next week.

Okay, so the rental market here is coming back. BUT - it’s not red hot like it was in the late 90’s. So how come I was able to fill my place so quickly?

Four things are key when filling properties:

1) Location. Yes, the adage is true. This condo is in a good area where people want to live. This is something to think very hard about when you’re buying property, especially when you’re just getting started. When I started, I was hungry. If someone said yes to me, I didn’t think about where the property was located, the condition of the place, or how easy it would be to keep filled. I learned some very hard lessons that way. So think about where the property is located. If it’s in a part of town where people want to live you’ll have an easier time keeping it rented and you’ll get more in rent.

2) Price. I can’t believe how many investors I talk to that complain about their empty property and having to pay the mortgage month after month with no income from a tenant. When I ask about the place, it’s location, size, condition, etc., I quickly figure out that they’ve got it overpriced. Let me say this very clearly - your payment does NOT determine the rent you charge! Did you hear that? Your payment does NOT determine what you can rent the place for! Just because you pay $1,000 / month doesn’t mean you should charge $1,200. Rent is what rent is. Period. Look in the newspaper, on craigslist, on rentclick, ask around, but come up with a fair rent price (not too high, not too low) for the area, condition and size of the place.

3) Condition. Here’s another lesson I learned the hard way. If you let your properties fall into disrepair, you not only will have a harder time re-renting them, but the quality of tenants will go down, and it’ll get trashed even more. This is another complaint I hear - “My tenants moved out and the place is trashed!” When I ask, “How often did you do inspections?”, the answer is invariably “Never”. When they say that, I say they got what they deserved. The rule is - keep your properties in decent condition (they don’t have to be pristine, just nice), inspect every 3 to 6 months (and do one about 2 - 3 weeks after a new tenant moves in), and if people are trashing the place - KICK THEM OUT!

4) Last, but certainly not least, is marketing. Gee, that’s kinda the key to success in everything, isn’t it? Look at Microsoft, or IBM, or Pepsi. Think they’re slugs when it comes to marketing? NO! They have huge marketing budgets. So learn how to market for filling your properties. Learn where works best in your market. Learn what keywords will help get people calling fast. And learn marketing techniques that work well in markets where the rental market might be a little off. In a market with high vacancy rates, one ad in the newspaper won’t fill your place. Signs all over the neighborhood will. So think numbers too.

One of the things we do during my One-on-One Mentoring is go over this in more detail. There’s a lot of stuff to cover, and I can’t cover it all here. I have a limited amount of space, and I find that most people won’t read a really long article anyway. Suffice it to say that the four things I mentioned above are key to filling your properties and keeping them filled.