How to Find Tenants For Rental Property

Part of being a landlord is assuming the role of property management and finding tenants to live in your rental properties. Without any prior knowledge this can seem a bit overwhelming. But with the tips listed below you’ll learn how to find tenants for your rental property quick and easy.

Table of Contents (skip to section)

Rental Websites
Social Media
Local Bulletin Board
Physical Sign
How to Screen Tenants

Best Places to Find Tenants

Below is a list of some of the best places and resources to use to find tenants online and offline.

Rental Websites

Find tenants online with these “find a tenant services.” You can advertise your apartment, duplex or single family rental on a number of websites for free that help connect landlords with tenants.

  • Zillow Rental Manager has the capability of posting your listing ads for free as long as you have an account with them. It even pushes those ads out to other sites like Hotpads and Trulia.
  • Landlords can post apartments for rent in a specific area of the country with a free account on Craigslist. Photos of the apartment can also be included.
  • Cozy is one of the best resources for landlords. It’s completely free, run by Apartments.com and handles the screening, lease agreements, listing creation and payment collection processes. The listing are thorough with images, amenities and a bunch more and will then populate to sites such as Realtor.com and Doorsteps.
  • Socialserve.com can help you reach the proper market if you’re interested in accepting government-subsidized housing, such as Section 8.
  • Avail provides numerous tools to help you get your rental listings out there, and it’s free. You can even use the site to collect rent and sign leases after you find tenants.

Social Media

Social media is a quick, easy and free option to make people aware of your rental vacancy. Use tools like Facebook marketplace to list images and info about the rental property to easily find tenants online.

Be sure to include contact information in these posts and a link to your application or pre-screen process.

Don’t neglect other platforms like Instagram and Twitter. If you have a business account for your properties you can post there otherwise just use your personal one.

Local Bulletin Board

Another great way to find tenants is to post flyers on local bulletin boards that receive high amounts of foot traffic. Places like this include colleges, grocery stores, churches, community centers, etc.

Grabbing a passerby’s attention is paramount so include eye catching colors and detail.

One last step is to include tear-offs with contact info on them for those people in a rush. Business cards, QR codes and easy to remember domains work well too.

Physical Sign

You’ve probably seen “For Rent” signs on the side of massive apartment buildings but there’s no reason you shouldn’t try putting a smaller one in your front yard where people can see it.

Include any vital info you can fit on the sign like amount of bedrooms, included utilities or any other selling point.

Find Tenants Without an Agent

By posting your listings on free rental sites, social media platforms, using physical signs and word of mouth you’re sure to find tenants quickly without a real estate agent.

Just be sure you’re putting together the best listings possible with lots of photos, details and selling points.

how to find tenants for rental property

How to Screen Tenants

Not every person that applies to rent from you is going to be your ideal tenant. It’s important you take a look at their financials, rental history, current job and much more to get a good understanding of them. This is how to screen tenants.

Tools to help

What to Look For