Anyone who has owned a rental property will tell you that it’s a lot of work. From the outside looking in, it might seem quite simple – owning a home, finding a tenant and collecting rent – but there’s much more to being a landlord than just that.

Routine property maintenance, complaints, hot water systems breaking down and dealing with lost rent and difficult tenants is all part of the job. Even finding someone to sign the lease can be a challenge depending on the market. If you’re planning on getting into the property game you need to be prepared for all the work that it takes.

If you’re currently looking for tenants in a difficult market and you’re sick of being out of pocket every week, or you’re just concerned that you might not be up to ensuring occupancy when you do decide to invest in a rental property, read on for a few tips to making your property more appealing to tenants.

Spruce Up Outside

Making sure your property looks good from the curb is incredibly important for first impressions. In a renters market, some potential tenants might not even hang around to come inside if the front yard looks awful. Trim bushes and trees, mow the lawns and keep it looking tidy if you want the chance to get the lease signed.

Clean EVERYTHING Inside the Home

To some it’s obvious, but there are so many landlords who just don’t think about making it spotless inside. If you want to rent your property to good tenants, you need to have cleaned inside and out. If you can’t do it yourself, hire a professional cleaning company – whatever it takes to get it done. A messy home isn’t one where people want to live.

Get Rid of Ugly Wallpaper and Ridiculous Colours

Wallpapers with ugly patterns and neon colours are incredibly off putting. You’re trying to appeal to as many people as possible when renting a property, then unfortunately your own taste in decor shouldn’t come into play. Paint walls a neutral colour and strip away wallpaper that sings its praises to an era gone-by.

Allow Pets

If you’re truly having a hard time getting the place rented, consider allowing pets. A lot of landlords have absolutely no time for tenants with a four-legged friend in tow and it makes sense to follow suit, but you can allow pets and prevent property damage at the same time by simply requesting to meet the animal in question beforehand and putting some restrictions on the types of pet that you’ll allow; most pet owners will even be willing to put down extra on the deposit. You’ll get a lot more interest being one of the few properties that allows animals and the owners will be far less likely to up and leave.

These are just a few easy ways to make your home more appealing to potential tenants. Tenant retention is one of the most important areas that you should be focusing as a landlord, after all the less time your house is empty the more money you can expect to make. Make sure you’re advertising heavily in print and online – local classified listings are great, but more people are using the web exclusively on their house hunt these days.