landlord taking pictures of rental property

When it comes to finding tenants, having pictures of your rental property will make the process faster and more effective. Tenants ignore listings that don’t have pictures. In fact, most listing sites include a filter that allows tenants to select ‘only show me places with pictures.’

Tenants rely on pictures to get a sense of what the property looks like. Without pictures, tenants won’t be interested in setting up a rental property showing. You won’t be able to move forward in the process without securing a tenant’s attention with great pictures. To avoid that from happening to you, we outlined six reasons why you should take picture of your rental property to share online.

1. Receive More Listing Views

The more pictures you have, the longer a tenant will stay on your rental listing. Visuals tell tenants exactly what they want to know, such as what the unit looks like, what condition it is in, and if they can picture themselves living there. Tenants also use pictures to help them imagine where they will put their furniture. It increases the chances of them wanting to live there when they can imagine their life there.

2. Makes Your Listing More Appealing on Social Media 

Sharing your rental listing on social media can be a great way to get your property in front of tenants for free. However, if your listing doesn’t have any pictures, then this will make it hard to generate interest from good tenants.

When you post your property on Avail, you can also share it on social media with a shareable link. All you have to do is copy and paste your listing’s URL into your Facebook or Twitter post and you’ll get the chance to show off your listing to your friends. Even better, every time someone likes or shares your post, your post will be seen by even more people.

3. Pictures Are Worth a Thousand Dollars

Tenants will be impressed with your unit based on pictures, whether you’re showing off your hardwood floors, high ceilings, an updated kitchen, or other amenities your unit has to offer. By showing off your unit’s value, you can justify a higher rent price.

Tenants are more willing to pay a steeper rent if the unit is everything they want. Pictures also help you anchor the tenant’s opinion, meaning if a tenant is impressed by your pictures, then the tenant is more likely to think the unit looks good when he or she sees it in person. Pictures have the power to raise the value of your unit from a tenant’s perspective.

4. Rent Your Unit Faster

Having pictures in your listing helps you rent your unit faster. When you make your listing more appealing, more share-worthy on social media, with more listing views, then you increase how fast you can rent your unit. You will also decrease your rental vacancy rate. The goal is to find tenants before you have a vacant unit. As long as tenants are in your unit, you’ll make rental income, and ultimately the goal of your rental investment is to make money.

5. Reuse Pictures Every Year

Taking pictures of your unit can seem like a tedious thing to do. But luckily, the process isn’t long and you don’t need expensive equipment. You can take great pictures of your property with just your smartphone. You can enhance your pictures by editing them, cropping them, brightening them, and making sure they are upright. Putting in that extra effort is worth it because you can re-use your pictures for years.

Read our guide chapter to learn exactly how to take rental listing pictures, including what equipment you’ll need, what time of day to take pictures, how to stage your unit, and how to take pictures when tenants live in the property.

6. Use Pictures to Document the Unit’s Condition

The last benefit of taking rental property pictures is that you can document the condition of your unit over time. If you update your unit, you’ll want to take new pictures. Further, if you notice significant damage after tenants move out, you should take pictures as proof of the new condition.

In a recent survey of our landlords, we determined that the number one reason why landlords don’t return the full security deposit is due to property damage. Taking pictures of damage is useful for documenting why you withheld part of a deposit.

Create a Rental Listing on Avail

Pictures can greatly improve your chances of generating tenant leads, as well as filling your property in no time. Once you’ve taken a few shots of your property, the next step is creating a rental listing on Avail for free. Create an account to set up your rental property, advertise your unit, and screen tenants — all in one place.