Tired of Waiting for Prospects
to Find and Rent Your Apartments?
Lightner Property Group can help today and bring new residents tomorrow
Lightner Property Group has a unique approach to marketing and leasing your apartment that uses traditional, new media and online marketing tools to ensure that your units receive optimal exposure to potential new residents. Below, we have outlined a few of the tools we use, and the overall leasing process. If you have any questions or would like to learn more about our marketing process, feel free to contact us.
Research-Unit Analysis:
Lightner Property Group has researched and identified a few of the top services to research current rental rates and do a unit analysis for each unit that is marketed by Lightner Property Group. This ensures that rental rates that are set are both aggressive, yet feasible. Additionally, our on-staff rental rates expert, Art Swanson, uses his 20 plus years of experience to help set rates for each unit that is marketed through LPG.
Marketing the Unit:
Online Services:
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Craigslist: Long gone are the days of simply posting an advertisement to Craigslist and hoping to get a few leads. Craigslist continues to remain an integral part of our marketing strategy, however it is just one piece of the puzzle. Our approach to marketing on Craigslist is unique from other San Francisco property management companies. We have developed a template and have done extensive research to determine what resonates with potential new residents. Your property is unique, and we tell a story behind the building. We include highlights of the particular unit for rent, and incorporate links to social media and Web 2.0 services that provide more information such as virtual tours, additional pictures and more.
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Advertising Aggregating Services: We leverage online marketing services, such as Postlets, to ensure that your unit gets optimal exposure online. These services allow us to push the ad out to multiple services used by potential new residents to find apartments for rent.
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Animoto: Using Animoto, we can bring boring slide shows to life; providing potential new residents with exciting tours of your available unit and building. This allows potential new residents to view the space before they even set up an appointment. With the effort that we put in to ensure that we capture the best shots of your available unit, we develop lively engaging videos of your available units and tell a story about the unit to the potential new renter.
Social Media:
LPG employs several social media service to send updates about new apartments for rent and connect with potential new residents.
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Facebook: LPG has a Facebook fan page that continues to grow
in number of fans. LPG posts ads, links to e-mail marketing campaigns, blog posts and engages with fans to raise awareness about LPG’s property management style and culture. -
Twitter: LPG uses Twitter and the many services that help identify relevant tweets to connect with potential new renters and post updates about apartments for rent. What’s great about Twitter is that it allows LPG to reach out to potential new renters in real-time with information about our client’s available rentals.
E-mail Marketing:
LPG employs the premier e-mail marketing service, Vertical Response, to reach out to potential new residents about new apartments for rent. The e-mails have a very strong readership and have performed very well, and new members continue to join each week.
Web Site:
All rentals are also advertised on the LPG site, which has been optimized by Lightner Property Group SEO expert. Essentially, employing SEO tactics ensures that the LPG site ranks high in the search results for relevant keywords that potential new renters are searching online. Lightner Property Group has been successful in ranking high for many of the keywords that are searched for by potential renters, allowing your listings to get more exposure on the LPG site compared with other San Francisco property management company’s sites.
Blog: LPG also engages with your potential new renters by providing tips for renters through the Lightner Group Scoop. This blog has allowed LPG to be a resource to renters, and provide information about LPG’s unique approach to property management. Understanding how we manage properties encourages potential new renters to want to live in a unit managed by LPG, which means that your units instantly become more valuable in the consumer’s eyes. Sample blog posts include Items to Take Apartment Hunting, Top Web 2.0 Tools for Apartment Hunting and What to do if You Discover Mold in Your Apartment.
Lightner Property Group is dedicated to social media to market apartments because we believe we are in a fundamental cultural shift. A new way of communicating, interacting, exchanging information, and searching for information. Not convinced? Check out this video about the increasing importance of social media as a marketing tool:
Overview of LPG’s Quality Leasing Services
- Licensed Agents: All marketing is done by a licensed professional real estate agent. A licensed leasing agent also accompanies all prospects to the unit, and personally shows the unit. Many property management companies rely on non-licensed assistants or part-time staff for the routine showing of apartments, or provide the key to the prospect and don’t even show the apartment. Don’t leave your vacancy in the hands of an untrained individual or allow a prospect to see your apartment unit alone. The marketing of an apartment unit requires the agent to market and sell the unit and close the transaction. Apartments do not rent themselves!
- Unit Inspections: We perform a unit inspection and provide recommendations for unit improvements when appropriate to assist with marketing.
- Unit Appraisal: We assist in the establishment of an acceptable monthly rental rate.
- Marketing: We develop and coordinate a custom designed marketing program that includes social media, online marketing, use of Web 2.0 tools and advertisements on the optimized LPG site
- Brochure: Develop and produce a brochure for the marketing of your property
- Renting the Unit:
- Inbound Inquiries: Manage and respond to all telephone and e-mail inquiries from potential renters or agents.
- Applications: Manage, review and process applications on a first come basis, using company guidelines for applications.
- References: Check references thoroughly, including employment, consumer credit, past leasing experience and personal references when necessary.
- Credit Check: Prepare and serve Consumer Credit Change of Terms notice when required by law. Additionally, provide consumer credit rejection notice in conformance with state and federal law (FCRA), when legally necessary.
- Negotiations: Handle all negotiations between owner and tenant.
- Payment: Collect security deposits, rent and fees.
- Leases & Rental Documents: Prepare leases and other rental documents, including all legally required disclosures.
- Billing: Provide final statement of charges for business records.
- E-Signatures: E-sign and execute the Lease Package and provide Owner a complete PDF final version.
- Move-In: Move-In Resident and provide owner a completed Move-In report, when requested.
Interested? Learn More about LPG’s Property Management Fees
Other Available Services provided by Lightner Property Group
