The Worst Rental Ads Around

Reading Apartable’s Broker Babble blog post really got me thinking: there really are a lot of bad rental ads out there.

From ads that just sound generic to ads that sound awesome but leave out important information, it is surprisingly seldom that you come across a solid rental ad that is interesting and provides all of the information you need to make an informed decision.

While I’m not going to list actual examples of terrible rental ads, I will discuss three of the things that most perturb me about many of the rental ads on online listing sites today. If you’re a renter, you’ve no doubt noticed many of these before. If you’re a property manager or landlord (or soon to be either), then these might be some tips worth jotting down!

No Location

What is the most important single factor that renters are interested in when looking for new apartments? Location, of course!

If your rental ad fails to mention the location of the apartment, then how will anyone know where the heck it is? People base their renting decisions in large part on how close the units are to their work, if any bus lines are nearby, and what the overall feel of the neighborhood is like. By simply remembering to include your apartment’s neighborhood or, better yet, including a map, you will greatly increase the amount of rental leads that you receive.

No Rent Price/Confusing Rent Price

After location, the amount of rent is the factor that most renters probably look to first to make decisions on new units. You can’t rent an apartment that is out of your price range.

Since this is so true, it is surprising to me that such a large number of rental ads fail to give the price of the unit. Surely, this should be of large concern? Especially since many listing sites, like Craigslist, actually require that rental price be included in the title of the ad.

Even worse than a rental advertisement without rent listed is one that has one price stated in the title and then a totally different one in the ad’s body. What’s up with this? Though it might be a simple mistake on the part of the landlord or property manager, such a discrepancy definitely screams scam to most people. And it only takes a few seconds to look over a rental ad before posting it anyway.

Terrible Photos

I actually prefer rental advertisements with no photos over those with terrible photos. At least a photo-less rental advertisement doesn’t scare you away. With that said, you should make sure that your advertisement does, in fact, contain photos (as they are one of the easiest ways to attract new leads), but you should also make sure that these photos are of high-quality.

And speaking of rental listing photos – what’s up with all of these wacked out pictures? It seems pretty straightforward that most renters would prefer to see a shot of the building as a whole and individual shots of each room. However, I see rental advertisements that only contain pictures of say, the apartment’s deck and bathroom sink, and totally forego all other shots on a daily basis. Doesn’t make much sense to me.

So there you have it – the three things that I think make up the worst rental ads around. Luckily, they usually happen independently of each other, though I have seen all three combined to create a truly terrible rental ad many times before.

What do you think? Is there anything else that really makes you wonder about some of the online rental advertisements that are floating around? What is the worst rental ad that you have ever seen?

_This guest post was written by our friends at RocketLease.com. Rocket Lease provides online rental applications for landlords, property managers, leasing agents, and other folks in the rental business. Users are also able to run credit and background checks on all applicants. _