Renting Rooms - How To Find Renters By Steve Gillman At Isnare.com Ezine Articles

You can make thousands of dollars of extra income renting rooms in your home. You can even rent rooms in an investment property, as a way to get more income from it. But how do you find the renters? Try the following.

Talk To Your Renters

If you already have rooms rented, talk to your tenants when you have a room available. More than once I have had one of the guys that rented from me tell me that a friend is looking for a room. It cost you nothing to ask, and the added bonus is that if a tenant helps you find a new renter, she can hardly complain about that person.

Post Notices On Bulletin Boards

If you have a bulletin board at work, start with that. If there are bulletin boards in grocery stores or other stores near you, post ads there, with several tear-off tags that have "room for rent" and your phone number on them. The closer to your house, the better, because then those who respond probably work in the area near your house. They are prime candidates.
Talk To People "In The Know"

A guy I worked with was always up to date on the latest gossip and he talked to everyone. Once, when I had a room available, I told him I would give him $20 if he sent me a renter who took the room. He did so within a few days. One advantage of doing it this way is that you don't pay until you have a rent payment in your hands.

Talk To Friends And Family

When you know you will have a room available, why not use it as an excuse to keep in touch with friends and family? Just call them all and ask if they know of anyone who might need a room to rent. I have found more than one renter this way.

Put A Classified Ad In The Newspaper

This is perhaps your surest way to get renters. I have had the best luck with running an ad for two days at a time, usually Saturday and Sunday. See when others are running their rental ads. If the local custom is to advertise rentals on Mondays, that will be the day when renters look in the paper, and so it will be the day you want your advertisement in there.

Usually it is only slightly more to run the ad for two days instead of one. Check to see what specials they have too. I typically paid about $12 for a two-day ad, but this varies greatly with the paper.

What The Ad Should Say

Whether you advertise on bulletin boards or in the newspaper, tell the reader everything that they need to know. In addition to listing important information, sell the benefits of renting from you. If you run the ad more than once, try a different ad, to see which gets the most calls. Here is an example of a couple advertisements that worked well for me:

"Simplicity. Everything from utilities to cable TV included. Nice room, nice home, nice yard. Just $75/week, and no deposit. Call Steve at 555-1212."

"Room for rent in good home close to town. $75 per week includes all utilities, cable TV, phone, washer, dryer, and more. Call Steve: 555-1212."

"Room, with use of whole house. Includes utilities, phone, cable, washer, dryer and more. $75/week and no other bills to pay. 555-1212 Ask for Steve."

When They Call

Give the caller the basic information. If they are still interested, start asking your qualifying questions (see the next chapter). Take notes! If you are still interested in renting to the caller, set a time for him to meet you at the house, and be sure to get a name and a phone number where you can reach them.

If you have rented the room already, don't hang up on subsequent callers before getting a phone number. Tell them the room is rented, but you will call them back if that person backs out. You never know for sure until they are in the room and the money is in your hands.

One more trick. If you see advertising for a similar room rentals, call that owner and agree to send renters to each other. If you rent your room first, you can tell other callers about that other room, and the owner of that other room can do the same if he is the first to rent his room. If his room or yours is just too far from a renter's job, or there is a similar problem, you can send those prospects to each other too.

In most towns renting rooms is easy.

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