Why leave professional photos to the sales agents? Professional photos are a great way to make your rental listings stand out.
Same apartments
. Which would you prefer?
The Montréal rental market hasn’t been ingreatest shape lately. With too many condos on the market, at MyRoom Gestion we’ve seen a negative evolution in what landlords can charge for rental apartments in 2015-2016. This is especially true at the upper end of the market. As the 2017 rental season gets under way, many owners and professionals will be wondering how to make their apartments attractive to prospective tenants without having to drop their rent. Here’s one inexpensive and easy tip: consider professional photos.
Why assume professional photos are only for property sales?
A set of professional pics done by a pro photographer is cheaper than you’d think. At my agency, we pay about 87$, tax included. This buys 15 retouched photos.
In the end, the expenditure ends up being an investment with rental units. Take photos of an apartment once and you can reuse them for years to come, every time you need to rent the unit or any other similar unit.
Great photos can make a big difference to the amount of attention your rentals receive. We see leads double or triple after we change the photos in our advertisements.
Rent is very price sensitive. A decrease of 50$ (let’s say from 700$ to 650$/month for a one bedroom) can also double or triple leads. But before dropping your prices, consider the economics of such a decision. In two months, if you do not reduce your rent by 50$, you’ll have gained back the money you spent on professional photos. Over one year, at a reduced amount, dropping your price by 50$ will cost you 600$. The same goes for doing costly renovations or adding services (including heating or electricity for example). Don’t do it until you’ve tried better photos. Renovations and rent-dropping is costly long term, and the worst part is these tactics don’t always solicit that much more quality attention.
Most prospective tenants now look for their future rentals online. In the virtual environment, visuals hold more weight than special offers buried deep in the text of the advert. Photos determine whether the client clicks on your ad at all.
The quality of tenants you are attracting is another thing to consider. Would you prefer to appeal to the type of tenant who’s looking to save 50$ on rent, or would you prefer the candidate who’s attracted to a beautiful-looking apartment, and for who the additional cost isn’t an issue? I know what type of leads I prefer.
Consider professional photos to help with your advertising this season. Our experience has confirmed that it’s an easy and cost-effective way of boosting the attraction-potential of your units.
We at MyRoom Gestion wish you good luck in the up-coming rental season.
