Do you own a rental property in Australia?
Then you’ll know the rental market is more than just downright competitive.
It’s absolutely flooding.
No doubt you’re presented with rental application after rental application – but how can you attract the best tenants?
The answer: engagement with the market through property reviews.
This is more than just a fancy real estate listing. More than just a boring walkthrough video.
This is real, genuine feedback from actual people – something that prospective tenants are craving to know when looking at your rental property.
Property Reviews: A New Era of Engagement
Reviews, testimonials, compliments, critiques – whatever you want to call them, property reviews have formed a new era of engagement.
Reviews written by real people, detailing real-world experiences and genuine emotion, create that unmatched sense of community that you can’t get from an ordinary real estate listing (which is, ultimately, copywriting designed specifically to sell).
Sure, a traditional real estate listing will tell you how many bedrooms, bathrooms and car spaces a property has.
It’ll tell you the place is ‘beautiful’, close to all the amenities you need and so on.
A walkthrough video will also deliver to you spruced up version of the place (while no doubt, hiding its bad bits).
But – to put it frankly – it won’t be genuine. The listings are crafted to make the property look good, but don’t offer any practical assistance, nor do they foster any sense of community – which is what so many people are looking for when finding a place to rent.
Think of TripAdvisor, AirBnB, Uber and YouTube. Why are those websites (and therefore the businesses) so successful?
Because they’ve mastered the art of community engagement – and reviews have been critical to their strategy.
Your regular real estate listing just simply can’t give you that.
In the context of rental properties, reviews act as the ultimate social proof. By showing your property as absolutely top of the market, you’re much more likely to attract the tenants you want.
Because – at the end of the day – the best properties attract the best renters.
3 Effective Ways to Boost Engagement with Property Reviews
Below we’ve listed 3 useful (and easy) ways how property reviews can boost engagement with your rental property.
These 3 ways will not only improve your property’s online visibility but provide an overall wholesome tenant experience.
1. Land a 5-star property
Give yourself the opportunity to land a ‘5-star’ rental property – and shine out from the rest.
By allowing your tenants the opportunity to rate your property from 1 star to 5 stars, you’ll get more than just some ‘nice things said about your property’
You’ll receive genuine market feedback you can then use to adapt and ultimately improve service as a landlord or an agency.
2. See genuine photos: the ultimate social proof.
If you let your tenants know about your property listing on a review website, you can encourage them to upload photos of the property in its actual state.
These will be real-life images taken by people who have actually lived in the property, providing highly valuable content for future prospective tenants looking to find a place to rent.
3. Respond to reviews
Once you get a review, don’t ignore it.
Engage with it – whether it’s negative or positive.
Instead of seeing a review as “negative” look at as constructive feedback which you can use to transform your property into a better place to live.
Most incoming tenants place just as much importance on reading your response as they do on the previous tenants’ review.
Step back, take a moment, get inspired. Think of ways to add value to the review.
For instance, if a tenant provides a critique, respond to the review showing how you went the extra mile to improve their experience.
And who knows? What one tenant says is a negative, might be a positive for someone else! Not all tenants are the same!
At Rent Rabbit, we’re providing the opportunity for landlords and agents to boost engagement with their tenants (and prospective tenants) through property reviews.
