How to Generate Landlord Clients

Many property owners are stuck in the stone age and rent their property the old fashion way… meaning (maybe) some pictures, absolutely no virtual tour, a disjointed lead screening process and most likely paper rental applications. This presents a great opportunity for you! Finding these landlords who need help marketing their property and pitching how you can help, is an incredible way to earn their business. Based off what we hear from agents, once you help a landlord rent one property, you will usually become their agent of choice… which means all future listings are yours!

So what types of landlords or owners should you go after, what is your message to these landlords, and generally how should you market potential landlord clients? We answer all of that below!

Your Target Market and Message to Them

When trying to drum up new landlord business using your time efficiently can be hard, unless, you know the right type of landlord to target. Thankfully, we have a lot of experience working with landlords of all sizes as we built the Rental Beast FRBO listing database over the years… and we know exactly the type of landlord you need to target!

The ideal landlord target is someone who does not market their listings well and/or has an inefficient leasing process. For the most part, this would mean smaller portfolio landlords and/or investors (less than 20 doors) are prime targets. The larger portfolio landlords and/or investors usually have a pretty well established process for marketing and leasing their properties so your value pitch to them may not be as enticing.

Listings you should look for:

A listing with no, few or bad pictures…
A listing that is mis-priced…
A listing that has been sitting on the market too long…
A hot listing that will certainly be generating high number of inbound leads…

Your value pitch to them:

A listing with no, few or bad pictures… reach out and offer to take pictures to help market their listing!
A listing that is mis-priced… reach out, establish yourself as an expert and recommend a new price.
A listing that has been sitting on the market too long… reach out and offer additional marketing exposure. You can even recommend new pictures and/or a virtual tour.
A hot listing that will certainly be generating high number of inbound leads… reach out and offer to help screen inbound leads to save the landlord time.

Don’t Forget

A few best practices for generating landlords that we have learned the hard way!

Follow-up after you place your client in their unit… You just helped a landlord secure a revenue stream (monthly rent) your value could not be higher!

Build credibility… by publicizing past successes! If you have rented a property before, let them know this! If you have rented a property similar to theirs, even better! Establishing yourself as an expert will help you bring immediate value to the landlord.

Ask if they have additional properties… Even if they don’t have any other current availability, asking this question gives you an idea of when in the future they might. So ensure you setup contact reminders.

Ask what drives their investment… then, find some for-sale listings that fit their investment strategy and send them over. This shows you were listening, you have initiative and that you care about their business.

General Marketing to Landlords and Investors

The backbone of your Real Estate marketing should be Social Media. Creating and maintaining a Facebook Business page, Instagram page and a LinkedIn profile are enormously valuable marketing tools as you can reach a wide audience quickly and without a huge effort. If you have not created a Facebook Business Page, check out this link to get started. Coupled with your social media presence, good ole fashion cold emails and calls can be very impactful; especially if you are targeting the correct landlord or owner (see above).

Your social media presence

Use social media and leverage your sphere of influence to notify landlords and investors you can help them rent their property. You want your message to be short, concise, and contain a value proposition. Check out the below sample verbiage:

Example Facebook post:
“Don’t want to rent your listing yourself? I can help! Contact me to learn more about my virtual showings and online application capabilities. Text me at XXX-XXX-XXXX for a virtual consultation!”

Example LinkedIn post:
“If you are a landlord or investor and are thinking of pulling your property off the market until it is safe to hold open houses, contact me. I will create a virtual showing, obtain all rental applications online, and get your listing rented. Text/call me at XXX-XXX-XXXX to set up a virtual consolation!”

Cold-emailing

Your cold emails should concise and clearly explain your value pitch. Check out the above section regarding tar-getting landlords and your message to them for more specifics. Example below.

“Hi [Landlord name],

My name is [insert your name] from [insert Brokerage]. I am reaching out about your property at [insert address]. The property seems very desirable but I can’t help but notice you don’t have a virtual tour available. Is this something you are interested in? I have helped other landlords rent their properties utilizing a virtual tour and I would be happy to do the same for you.

If you have an interest I would love to jump on a quick call to discuss this further. Just let me know the time that works best for you.

Thanks,
[insert name]”

Cold-calling

Similar to cold emails, you have a very limited amount of time to convey your value to the landlord. Maximize your time by doing research on any active properties the landlord has how you could help each property. Example below.

Agent: “Hi [Landlord], I see that your property has been on the market for a few weeks which surprises me as it is in a great location! Have you been seeing much interest?”

Landlord: “Some interest, but not as much as normal. I haven’t taken pictures which seems to be important right now.”

Agent: “Got it. Yes, pictures of the apartment are very important. Even better is a video so potential tenants get a better feel of the property.”

Landlord: “I usually don’t have to do that.”

Agent: “I understand. If you are interested, I can take the pictures or film the video of the property for potential tenants to view. I can then post this listing to the MLS and Rental Beast who then posts it on the Facebook Marketplace and Realtor.com to drive traffic to your listing. You don’t have to worry about screening leads as I will do it for you.”

Landlord: “I might be interested.”

Agent: “Okay! Next step would be for me to come by the property to take photos and the video, or we can schedule a FaceTime call so you can get to know me better.”

Asking a Client (and Landlord) for Future Business

Building a Real Estate Business with Rentals

Generating Leads Through Facebook