How Good Marketing Finds You the Right Tenant, Not Just Any Tenant
There is a difference between finding a tenant and finding the right tenant. It sounds obvious but it shapes everything about how a letting should be approached, from how a property is presented and where it is advertised, to what kind of applicants it attracts and how they are assessed.
For most landlords, the goal is not just to fill the property. It is to find someone who will look after it, pay reliably, and stay for a reasonable length of time. Getting that right starts long before anyone books a viewing.
Know Your Property and Who It Is Right For
The first step in finding the right tenant is being honest about what your property offers and who it genuinely suits.
A two bedroom flat near Plymouth city centre will appeal to a different tenant than a three bedroom semi in Plymstock. A furnished property near the university attracts a different audience to an unfurnished one in a family-friendly neighbourhood. Understanding who your property is right for shapes every decision that follows, from how it is priced and photographed to where it is advertised and how it is described.
This sounds straightforward but it is something letting agents do not always think carefully enough about. A property marketed to the wrong audience, at the wrong price, with the wrong emphasis, will either attract unsuitable applicants or attract very few at all.
Presentation and Photography Matter More Than Landlords Often Realise
In Plymouth's rental market, the majority of tenants begin their search online. The photos are the first thing they see, and for most properties they determine whether a viewing gets booked at all.
A well-presented property photographed professionally will consistently outperform the same property photographed poorly, even at a slightly higher rent. It attracts more interest, which means more choice of applicant, which means a better chance of finding exactly the right person.
This means preparing the property properly before any photographs are taken. Clean throughout, decluttered, well-lit, and presented neutrally so that applicants can imagine themselves living there. We use professional photography for every property we market because we know the difference it makes.
Where Your Property Is Advertised
Reaching the right tenant means being visible in the right places.
Rightmove and OnTheMarket are the starting point for most tenants searching for a property and your listing needs to be on both, presented well and priced accurately from the outset. A property that launches at the wrong price loses momentum in the crucial first week when new listings generate the most attention.
Beyond the portals, social media plays an increasingly important role. A well-presented property shared through the right channels can reach tenants who are not yet actively searching but are open to the right place when they see it. It also reaches people in specific circumstances, those relocating to Plymouth, those moving within the city, those looking in a particular area who might not have searched the portals recently.
We also maintain an active database of tenants who have registered with us and are looking for a property. When a new instruction comes in, we match it against that database immediately and reach out directly. For landlords, this can mean a tenant found before the property even goes live publicly, and a void period significantly reduced or eliminated.
The Right Description Does More Than You Think
How a property is described shapes who enquires about it. A good listing does more than list the rooms and the square footage. It tells a prospective tenant what it is actually like to live there.
What is the neighbourhood like? What is within walking distance? What does the property feel like? Who does it suit? A listing that answers those questions honestly and compellingly will attract applicants who are genuinely right for the property, rather than a wide field of people who enquired based on very little information and may not be suitable at all.
We write every listing ourselves rather than using generic templates, because we know the Plymouth rental market neighbourhood by neighbourhood and we know what tenants in this city are actually looking for.
Referencing: Where the Right Tenant Is Confirmed
Good marketing brings the right applicants to the door. Thorough referencing confirms which of them is actually right for your property.
We reference every applicant over 18 years old as standard. That means credit checks, income verification, previous landlord references, and Right to Rent checks. Where applicable, we carry out the same checks on guarantors. If you are planning to take out rent guarantee insurance, tenants generally need to pass referencing to a specific standard for the policy to be valid, so cutting corners here can have consequences beyond just the tenancy itself.
The referencing stage is not a formality. It is where the difference between a good tenancy and a difficult one is often determined. We take it seriously every time.
Pricing: Getting It Right From the Start
A rental property priced too high will sit on the market and accumulate void period costs that quickly outweigh the benefit of a higher monthly rent. A property priced accurately from day one attracts more interest, lets faster, and tends to attract more reliable applicants because there is genuine competition for it.
We will always give you an honest rental valuation based on what is actually happening in the Plymouth market right now, not an inflated figure designed to impress you at the valuation stage. A realistic price that lets your property quickly is almost always worth more to you over the course of a year than an optimistic one that takes months to achieve.
What This Means for You as a Landlord
Finding the right tenant is not luck. It is the result of presenting your property well, marketing it in the right places to the right audience, pricing it accurately, and assessing applicants thoroughly.
Done properly, it means fewer void periods, fewer maintenance issues, fewer difficult conversations, and a more reliable income. Done poorly, it means any of the above in reverse.
Whoever you choose to let and manage your property, make sure they can tell you clearly how they approach each of these things. The best agents will not have to think about the answer.