Property Management Tampa Tip #2: 6 Steps to Get a Vacant Rental Ready and Avoid Huge Vacancy Losses

1) Clean the rental from top to bottom. A Tampa property management company must ensure each rental looks sparkling clean especially in the kitchen and bathrooms. Women typically decide to rent a place or not based on cleanliness and these areas are extremely important to them. Make sure the stove pans are new, there is no grime inside the cabinets, and the inside of the refrigerator is spotless. You are trying to make a strong first impression.

2) Make the home smell great. You can buy portable, plug-in air fresheners. This is fairly inexpensive and will last for 30 days. The refills are also inexpensive. This is a wonderful first impression when a prospect walks through the front door. You should also put them in bathrooms and the kitchen. Virtually all women appreciate nice fragrances.

3) Examine the curb appeal. A Tampa property manager should make sure the lawn has been cut, bushes or trees trimmed (if they look bad), leaves raked up, and any trash or large branches picked up and removed from the yard. Sometimes, you might need to pressure wash the front of the house, driveway, or sidewalk. You just need to examine the outside for anything unsightly. You may need to add some small flowers or plants in empty flower beds to freshen up the exterior of the house even though they will likely die when the new tenant move-in.

4) Make sure the carpets, ceramic tile, or wood floors have been steam cleaned or scrubbed. The flooring needs to shine and look like new or prospects will immediately downgrade the rental.

5) Do not leave furniture, supplies, or any trash inside the home. Some property owners or previous tenants will leave nice furniture or stuff in the unit. Take it out. You want the prospect imagining what their furniture will look like in the rental. Any furniture or miscellaneous stuff will distract the prospective tenants.

6) Develop a checklist. You cannot remember everything in your head.

a. Here is a common list of items to check: blinds, paint, carpets, ceiling fans, refrigerator, stove/oven, dishwasher, cabinets, plumbing fixtures, electrical outlet plates, closet doors, yard, interior doors, exterior doors, AC unit, air filter in AC, bath tubs or showers, and the list goes on.

b. You want the checklist to make sure that each time you inspect the unit that everything is consistently verified. I cannot stress this enough. The checklist must be developed, expanded, and used, or you will miss stuff that will turn off prospects and cause the unit to sit vacant.

These 6 items are critical for renting vacant rentals quickly and avoiding huge vacancy losses in your Tampa property management company.