Temporary or short-term tenants have very specific needs, but they can be a gold mine for landlords.
Short-term leases often carry premium pricing and, depending on local laws, the rates can jump significantly at the end of the lease term.
The trick is finding these tenants to keep your short-term vacancy rates as low as possible.
Add these simple amenities and follow these three strategies to help keep all of your short-term rentals full, all year round.
Adding Amenities
Short-term renters might be in town for a season or even six months with a contract job.
The shorter term of their leases often means that they will need a furnished apartment.
Working with a furniture rental company can give you the flexibility to offer an apartment furnished or unfurnished, on demand.
If you want to avoid the added expense, you can always furnish the apartment yourself.
Keep in mind that better furnishings can help draw in higher-end tenants.
Another major amenity to keep in mind is connectivity.
If a tenant is traveling for business, they may be working virtually around the clock. Make sure all temporary units are already wired for Internet service and include the cost in the monthly fee. This helps your tenants avoid wait times for installation.
Consider rolling all monthly expenses into the rental fee for short-term leases. Some companies pay the living costs for temporary housing, so a rental agreement that builds in electricity, heat, hot water, and any other utilities can be worthwhile to business tenants.
How to Attract Temporary Tenants
Once you have the unit ready, it is time to start lining up prospects.
There are many ways to connect with short-term tenants, and here are three that can boost your existing campaigns.
1. Contact companies
Start any search for temporary tenants by touching base with local companies that often use seasonal or contract workers.
You can set up an agreement directly with the company for a specific number of units.
This has several benefits, not the least of which being that even if the unit is not filled, you still collect rent. If something does happen to a unit, it might take longer to collect damages from the business, but you are much more likely to be paid without spending time in court in order to collect.
Other benefits of renting directly to the business is less time and money spent acquiring tenants. You won’t need to run multiple tenant applications or advertise as long, or at all.
2. Add “short term” to your ads
The easiest way to connect with short-term renters is often just adding the keyword to all of your materials.
Make sure that prospects see that you offer these types of leases, so you can leverage all of your advertising toward filling any type of vacancy.
3. Post on job boards
If you don’t want to work with companies directly, you can still take advantage of their hiring practices by advertising in the same places they do. If a local company routinely advertises for jobs on a specific board, add your own materials in the same place.
This will make sure every new contract employee also sees a place where they can go to find temporary housing.
When adding materials designed to attract seasonal or temporary renters, be sure to distinguish between short-term and month-to-month leases.
A month-to-month may not offer enough security for prospective tenants, but they may want to have the option available at the end of their longer term.
Offering both options can be a bonus when working with those who can’t say for sure how long a job will take.
