Real estate investing can be an exciting venture, but it’s no secret that finding great tenants can be a challenging aspect of maintaining a healthy portfolio – especially when renting in Toronto. Your tenants play a crucial role in the success of your investments, as they can make or break your experience as a landlord. To achieve long-term success, you need tenants who are reliable, respectful, and pay their rent on time.
Luckily, as a rental agent who works with both renters and landlords, I have insider knowledge on how to find tenants that landlords will love!
In this article, I’m going to spill my secrets and share my top tips on how to attract and retain great tenants for your rental properties. So, whether you’re a seasoned investor or just starting out, read on to learn how to fill your properties with quality tenants who will help you achieve your real estate goals.
5 Places To Find A Tenant For Your Rental Property
To find the best tenants for your rental property, it’s crucial to know where they’re searching. Putting your property in front of the right audience can make all the difference in attracting high-quality tenants.
As an experienced rental agent, I’ve honed in on five effective strategies for advertising rental properties. These tactics have proven to be successful in finding reliable tenants who pay rent on time and treat the property with respect.
1 - Use A Real Estate Agent
As a real estate agent myself, I may be biased, but I truly believe that using a real estate agent or REALTOR® is the best option for finding tenants. Even if I weren’t an agent, I would still recommend working with one. There are several benefits to using a real estate agent when looking for tenants.
One of the main advantages of working with a real estate agent is the exposure your property will receive. Depending on the type of listing agreement you sign, your agent can promote your property on Canada’s top property listing websites, such as realtor.ca. This is where many Canadians begin their search for rental properties, so it’s essential to have your property listed there.
If a potential tenant is working with their own real estate agent, your listing will also be visible on the MLS® (Multiple Listing Service). This means that your property will be accessible to a wider audience, as it will be syndicated to other brokerages’ websites with an IDX feed enabled. This can result in your property appearing on over 100 different websites, all thanks to working with a real estate agent and signing a MLS® listing agreement.
Another advantage of working with a real estate agent to find tenants is the amount of time it saves. Let’s be clear: finding great tenants is a full-time job that requires a lot of effort and dedication. Even though it’s possible to find a tenant on your own, in today’s competitive rental market, it can be challenging to attract the right tenant for your property.
When you hire a real estate agent, you’ll have an expert in your corner who can help you find the perfect tenant match. A good agent will take the time to understand your specific needs as a landlord, and they will have the necessary expertise to screen potential tenants to ensure that they are a good fit for your property. Plus, if your agent has years of experience, they’ll likely have an existing network of qualified renters that have already undergone the screening process. This can lead to a quicker turnaround time, getting your property leased out faster.
Another benefit of working with a real estate agent is their experience in handling leases. With Ontario’s rental laws becoming more stringent over time, it’s important to ensure you’re following all the rules and regulations to avoid any legal issues or financial setbacks. This can save you both time and money in the long run, especially considering the backlog of cases at the Landlord and Tenant Board.
2 - Facebook Marketplace
When it comes to advertising a rental property, many landlords overlook Facebook Marketplace, but I highly recommend it as a powerful tool for finding tenants.
This platform is an excellent way to reach potential renters who are actively searching for a new home. In fact, Facebook Marketplace is so popular that one of my recent rental listings received more than 100 inquiries on this site alone!
From my own experience, I’ve found that nearly 50% of the prospective tenants I’ve found for my clients have come from Facebook Marketplace. Don’t miss out on this opportunity to connect with quality tenants!
3 - Zumper
Unlike Facebook Marketplace which is a classified listings platform catering to different items such as used household appliances, furniture, clothing and more, Zumper is strictly for rental properties. This means you are hyper-targeting a more narrow and specific audience of renters.
This website is targeted towards both tenants and landlords. Whether you’re a tenant or a landlord, you can create a free account giving you access to unique features.
If you’re a tenant, you can create an account and start browsing the available listings in your local or desired area. Once you find a place you like, you can contact the landlord or their respective agent and begin the conversation by submitting your rental application and contact information.
If you’re a landlord, you can create an account and upload your rental property listing for free. Zumper will even provide you with a recommended asking price based on nearby comparables. Unfortunately, the recommended monthly rent is only calculated using an internal algorithm based on other Zumper listings and does not use the expert opinion of a real estate professional syndicating information from listings across the web. From my experience, the recommended asking price is less than what you could normally get. This is why I rank using a professional real estate agent as number one on my list.
When uploading your listing, you will be prompted to provide basic information such as the number of bedrooms, the number of bathrooms, unique unit or building amenities, a description, and photos. You can even go a step further and create the lease using Zumper. A word of caution – I would not use Zumper to create my lease especially if you are an Ontario landlord.
I would not recommend using Zumper to put the lease together since you are required to use the Residential Tenancy Agreement Form or Standard Form of Lease for all Ontario leases.
Other than this one minor discrepancy, I still believe Zumper is a great site to use to find quality tenants.
4 - Rentals.ca
Rentals.ca is very similar to Zumper in that it’s a site used strictly for rentals. The reason why I personally rank it lower than Zumper is for two reasons.
First off, the web traffic rentals.ca gets seems to be less than Zumper. The quantity of leads I have received from Zumper has far surpassed the number of leads I have received from Rentals.ca. Although quantity does not equal quality, when the market is slow, I would still prefer to have more leads than none.
Secondly, the user interface for Zumper is far more intuitive and easier to use than rentals.ca. This is simply a personal preference and you may have a different experience. For some other users, they may rank Rentals.ca higher than Zumper, but for me, I prefer Zumper.
This is not to discourage you from using one or the other. Both sites are great. In fact, you should use them collaboratively to maximize the exposure of your rental property. Some great tenants will exclusively use their REALTOR®, Facebook Marketplace, Zumper, or Rentals.ca. Only choosing one online service to find a tenant would be narrowing your chances of finding the best tenant possible.
5 - Your Social Circle & Word Of Mouth
Lastly, your social circle and word of mouth is another alternative you can use to find great tenants.
If you have a large network of friends, family, and professionals, posting on your personal social channels will give you a far reach. I’m confident one or more of those connections are potential tenants or know someone who is looking to rent.
The great thing about connecting with your social circle and looking for good tenants through word of mouth is you’ll likely already know what they are like as a person and someone you could see living in your rental unit.
How To Find Good Tenants In Toronto
Now that you know where to find tenants, how do you find good or even great tenants?
I want to preface this section and make it very clear that it’s against the law to discriminate against anyone. You can not decline potential tenants based on their race, pets, marital status and other factors that would fall under the types of housing discrimination.
From my experience, good fitting tenants are the ones that are easy to work with and connect with you personally. At the end of the day, you will be forming a working relationship with them.
You can determine if someone is a good fit and willing to cooperate based on the process of submitting supporting documents.
For example, you want to filter out “tire-kickers” – people who are not seriously interested in renting and are just browsing the market. You want to filter out the not-so-serious renters from the renters who are ready to sign a lease agreement. You can do this by requesting supporting documents such as having them run a credit check and providing their credit score, requesting previous landlord references, and perhaps even pay stubs if the applicant is voluntarily willing to provide them.
This process will help narrow down your list of applicants who are interested in leasing your rental property. I’ve found those who are willing to cooperate and follow the application process are the ones who will pay each month’s rent on time, keep your property clean, and will be respectful of their neighbours.
The Final Recap To Find Tenants
Finding a tenant for your investment condo or apartment doesn’t have to be difficult or time-consuming. If you want your investment to be properly managed with a consistent track record of rent being paid on time, consider hiring the services of an Oakville leasing agent or Toronto leasing agent like Marco Pedri – Broker with Shoreline Realty Corp., Brokerage.
Marco Pedri has a proven history of success dealing with both tenants and landlords. Marco’s service is an all-in-one solution for your investment renting needs from professional photos, advertising, screening process, move-in facilitation, and more. If you want to make the best move for your investment property, get the services of Marco Pedri.
