8 Quick Tips to Prepare for Peak Rental Season

Every year, as kids go off to college and families try to move without interfering too much with school schedules, May to August gets busy in the rental world. How do you prepare for the peak rental season? What can you do to make sure it doesn't overwhelm you?

1. Get rid of clutter in the office

Whatever office you work out of, make sure that it’s not a complete mess. We get it, it happens. Papers all over the place from the last year if not longer. The chaos of peak rental season will only make this worse, so you need to do something now to get this under control.

2. Digitize/get rid of all paper files

This is one of those possible ways. Decluttering is a great time to go about getting rid of all the paper files that you’ve been keeping for years. Switching over to a digital system can take some time, so start with just handling new applications digitally. If that works, then take the time after things have died down to convert all of your old paperwork to digital files.

3. Make sure you have the capacity to handle a lot of applications

Of course, higher demand means you’re going to have to spend a lot more time sifting through who might make a good tenant. This is a good time to get some help, even just temporarily, to help keep the applications from overwhelming you.

4. Price the rent appropriately

This is a must. Price your property too low and you’ll be giving up potential income for a year. Price it too high and you’ll miss snagging a renter during the peak season, having to settle for what you can get later on. It’s always important to price rent properly, but the stakes are especially high this time of year.

5. Update your old listings

Are your online listings up to date? If not, now is the best time to update them. If the information is old and inaccurate, you’re less likely to get people to show interest in your rental properties. We have additional tips for really making your listings stand out.

6. Keep turnaround time down

Do you have contractors available to come into your units the day after a tenant moves out? Every day your unit sits empty is always lost money, but this time of year it’s even more. The faster you can get someone to come in and prepare the unit for the next tenant, the better.

7. Make sure to use social media marketing

Social media marketing is always a good way to further promote your listing, especially this time of year. Make sure you’re not neglecting this important method of marketing, especially during peak season.

8. Know your limits and outsource when necessary

There’s a lot to do this time of year — can you do all of it yourself? If not, that’s okay. There are people out there with the skills you need. Anything you can’t do should be outsourced to someone who can.

Peak rental season is a lot to handle, but the rewards are grand if you're prepared. Do you have any other tips for successfully conquering the peak season? If so, let us know in the comments!