Hi everybody! My name is Matisse and I work here at liv.rent as the Marketing Manager. I rent out three properties and use liv.rent to manage them and find my tenants. Recently, I successfully rented out a 3 bed, 3 bath listing in Vancouver in less than 10 days from the listing to the contract being signed. During this time, I received more than 90 inquiries and 50 applications for my apartment. 

I’ll be going through exactly what I did and how you can use the features available within liv.rent to simplify the tenant search and screening process and rent out your apartment fast.

How can I find a tenant faster?

Like most landlords, I’m extremely busy and always looking for ways to do more on the go. My favourite thing about liv.rent is that I can do everything on my phone and cut out a lot of the time that’s usually wasted during the rental process. This allows me to find qualified renters faster, with less time and energy spent on my end.

To break it down, my flow essentially consisted of four simple steps:

1. Share your listing to multiple sites to reach more tenants
2. Use liv.rent as my rental hub
3. Screen candidates using liv.rent
4. Send video tours and book time slots

I’ll be going over what each of those steps looks like and how to rent out an apartment fast using liv.rent.

Share your listing to reach more tenants

To reach more qualified tenants, it’s important to cast a wide net. Thankfully, liv.rent makes it easy to advertise your listing on multiple sites so that you can reach as many interested renters as possible.

This was relatively easy for me as I’m part of a lot of different Facebook groups, but it also led to a barrage of messages from tenants. I received 150+ inquiries in total, which was great for getting leads, but I needed a way to filter out the really interested candidates.

If you’ve used Facebook Marketplace in the past, you know that about 95% of the messages you receive are the standard “Hi, is this still available?”. I didn’t have time to go through and reply to every single message, so instead I directed all interested applicants to my liv.rent listing and communicated there. This is essentially your first screening step as it eliminates the candidates who aren’t committed, while also organizing all your communications into one convenient location.

Use liv.rent as your rental hub

Once my listing was up and running, I started receiving messages on Facebook Messenger instantly. Whenever this happened, I would direct the candidate to message me and apply on liv.rent. This is important because I don’t want to continue any communication on Facebook – it’s a better way for me to organize my chats and keep all the communication and documents in one place. 

No matter where you post or advertise your listing to, you want to direct all your leads back to liv.rent (I call it my rental hub) and tell them to apply there. From there, I received over 50+ applications which was quite overwhelming. So, what I ended up doing was going through each application and short-listing or favouriting my top applicants. 

Screen tenants and create a short-list using liv.rent

Once I have a good number of applicants on liv.rent, my next task is filtering out any renters who don’t seem 100% interested in moving forward with my listing, and also any renters who don’t fit my requirements. I’m looking for someone who will take care of my unit, respectful of noise levels, and of course, can pay their rent on time. 

With this in mind, I created a tenant screening flow using liv.rent to help me save time and streamline my entire rental process. I work full-time and I really didn’t want to waste my energy on anyone who either wasn’t qualified or wasn’t seriously interested in renting my unit. 

Normally the Trust Score is the first thing that I check when looking for new tenants. Students, particularly international students who apply, may not have a credit history in Canada. In this case, I would defer to their submitted statements to see if they are employed, if they have an income, or are otherwise able to pay for rent. I also made sure to call the references listed on their application to better understand who they are as a renter. 

Send video tours and book showing time slots

After I narrowed down my top applicants to about 15, I sent the remaining candidates a link to my video tour using liv.rent and asked them to book a showing if they were still interested in the apartment. I created some options for time slots for my listing and let them know that they could go ahead and book one that was still open. 

When all was said and done, I ended up with about 10 tenants who booked a viewing – my pool of high-intent renters who I knew were seriously interested and fit all my requirements. I was able to rent out this listing in just about 10 days – I could have rented it out faster if I wanted to, but I chose to do my due diligence and go through more applicants to ensure I was totally satisfied with who I chose to rent to. 

I rented my suite out to 3 international students and I was able to use the built-in contract and pre-vetted addendums to quickly and easily get all the paperwork in order.

My tips for renting out an apartment

To summarize, let’s recap a few of the most important tips and features that helped me streamline the rental process using liv.rent and ultimately rent my apartment faster:

• List on multiple sites using built-in sharing features
• Direct all of your communications to your rental hub on liv.rent
• Use liv.rent features to screen and short-list potential tenants
• Send video tours and conduct showings
• Create contracts and addendums using liv.rent

Rethink The Way You Rent

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The post Landlord Success Story: How To Rent Out An Apartment In 10 Days appeared first on liv.rent blog.

Vancouver

Vancouver is one of the most beautiful cities in the world. With spectacular mountains to the North, numerous city parks and beaches, an extensive bicycle network, world class restaurants and amenities, and excellent transit options, living in the city is definitely recommended if you have the budget.  It is comprised of many great neighbourhoods, it is hard to pick a favourite. All of  them have their charms including parks, transit access, restaurants etc.

For  a quick low down of all Vancouver’s amazing areas, check out our post Swipe Right for this ‘Hood (Vancouver Edition).

Richmond

Vancouver’s closest suburb to the south, Richmond is a multi-cultural mecca offering residents an impressive taste of Asia and is home to Vancouver International Airport (YVR) as well as the International Buddhist Temple. Richmond is only 45 mins from the US border and the Canada Line offers easy, reliable transit service downtown. It boasts one of North America’s most vibrant, Chinese communities which may appeal to many newcomers.  In addition, Richmond has some of the best Asian food options in the world and a lively Night Market that runs throughout the summer on weekends.

Burnaby

Burnaby is the suburb located immediately to the east of Vancouver. Just 15 minutes away from downtown Vancouver  and well serviced by transit, Burnaby offers residents world-class shopping at North America’s largest mall,  Metropolis at Metrotown, a wide selection of international cuisine, numerous parks, lakes and trails as well as a calendar of multicultural arts events at the Michael J. Fox Theatre. In addition, Burnaby is home to BCIT and Simon Fraser University (SFU). Burnaby’s neighbourhoods are ethnically and culturally diverse and boast a variety of more affordable housing options from apartment towers to single family homes and generally, a lower cost of living.

Tricities

Comprised of three cities, Port Coquitlam, Coquitlam and Port Moody, this area is located East of Burnaby and has a lower cost of living compared to Vancouver and nearer suburbs (Burnaby and Richmond). However, it is still is very accessible with reliable service downtown using the Skytrain, Express Bus or commuter train (West Coast Express). Find a mix of quiet, leafy suburbs perfect for families as well as more densified communities centred around transit options. These communities are close to beautiful outdoor recreation options – lakes, Golden Ears Provincial Park, and other hiking trails.

Surrey

The second largest city in BC, Surrey is a diverse community well-serviced by transit and boasts a number of vibrant business centres, shopping malls, recreational areas and green spaces. It is also home to a large South Asian community and so some of the best Indian restaurants any where! Simon Fraser University as well as Kwantlen Polytechnic have campuses in Surrey as well.

North Shore

The North Shore is comprised of North and West Vancouver and is home to three ski hills and some of the most spectacular (and extreme) mountain biking and hiking trails in the world making it a great choice for outdoor enthusiasts. The North Shore offers residents every type of housing option, excellent schools, shopping and quick access to Whistler and the Trans Canada Highway. The Seabus, Translink and West Vancouver Buses provide reliable transit downtown.

Curious to know more about relocating Vancouver? Check out some of our other articles in collaboration with Vantastic:

Inside Scoop: 16 Things You Need to Know About Living in Vancouver

Inside Scoop: Setting Up Your New Life in Vancouver

Inside Scoop: 10 Tips For Finding A Job In Vancouver

The post Choosing the Right City For You appeared first on liv.rent blog.

Toronto Renter Stats – Trends

This month we take a look at the state of the rental market in Greater Toronto based on May’s figures.  Overall, renters saw some relief last month with many neighbourhoods posting decreases in rental rates. Only Vaughan/Richmond Hill saw an increase – a sizeable one at that (8.3%). Below is a breakdown of the Toronto rental stats for May 2019.

Furnished vs. Unfurnished Rentals

The average rent for an unfurnished one bedroom apartment in May was down from April’s $1,801 to $1,762. The average cost of a furnished apartment, however, crept upwards to $2,064 from April’s $1,862.

Highest vs. Cheapest Rent in Toronto

Taking the honors away from April’s bargains in Mississauga, Vaughan/Richmond Hill boasted the lowest average rent for a 1 bedroom furnished unit at $2,100 (up from $2,000 in April) in May, despite also experiencing the largest month over month increase in rent. The highest average rent for a similar home in May was in Downtown Toronto at $2,383 (down slightly from April’s $2,467) .

Remember though, despite paying premium rates to live in Toronto’s downtown core, tenants are saving in other ways, primarily, on car-related expenses (vehicle, insurance, fuel and repairs). In addition, time is money, and living near where you work pays mental health dividends in terms of reduced commuting times and associated stress.

Be sure to subscribe to our mailing list for all future updates on the Toronto rental market!

For more rental stats, read our Vancouver Rental Stats – May 2019 Snapshot.

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