1) Pictures are worth a thousand words, but only if they’re the right pictures

Really there are two parts to this one. The first is that a listing on Craigslist that doesn’t have pictures greatly reduces its chances of getting rented. I mean, this is 2008 folks, get a digital camera…they’re cheap! From my experience, if there isn’t a picture, I assume something is wrong with the property, and will pass almost 100% of the time.

The second part of this is about having the right pictures. The right pictures mean photos that show the property in as much detail as possible, inside and out. I ran across a number of rentals that only had photos of the interior or exterior of the unit that was for rent. Again, if I see that, I’ll assume the worst and I’ll likely pass.

Finally, when you are taking pictures, do whatever you can to make sure they look as professional as possible. If your pictures make the inside of the house look like a dungeon, no one is going to want to rent it…unless you’re that lotion in the basket guy from Silence of the Lambs…but if you recall, he trashed that place.

2) Square footage is important, and measurements of rooms are even better, and actual floor plans rule.

I’m not totally sure why people think that they can get away with not listing the square footage of their rentals, but some people do. During our search we were duped by listings that didn’t have square footage, only to go visit them and realize that we couldn’t fit our stuff into the place. So we wasted our time and the time of person showing us the rental…all because we didn’t know the square footage before hand.

If for some reason you are unsure of the square footage of the place you are trying to rent, take some measurements and approximate. Something is always better than nothing when it comes to dimensions and rental size.

And speaking of dimensions, giving people an idea of how big the living room/family room and bedrooms are is a really nice perk. And there is nothing better than an actual floor plan. If for some reason you don’t have one, sites like smallblueprinter.com can help…just use its easy interface to draw up a general layout of your place.

Having dimensions, square footage and a floor plan allows potential renters to set their expectations and start visualizing themselves in your rental before they even visit.

3) Always fill out the location field that shows up after the title of your listing

This one is extremely important for people like us who were looking for places in particular neighborhoods. By making sure you fill in the location field with accurate info, like city and neighborhood (for example Denver, Uptown), your ad will stand out more than those that are targeted to a city alone (for example just Denver).

In addition to this, do what you can to explain exactly where the property is – meaning address if you’re willing. If not, cross streets is acceptable. To be really nice, even include a link to Google map that shows where the property is. I know we are picky about the area where we live, and the difference between a dream neighborhood and bad one can be a matter of a couple blocks, so help out your potential renters and tell them right where the property is.

4) Make sure you give a name, a phone number and a way to send you an email

When Kristi and I find a place on Craigslist we are interested in, we go after it as quickly as possible, which means we prefer a phone number. I know you might not be totally excited about putting your phone number on the net, but chances are no one but interested renters are going to call you.

If you just don’t want to put up your phone number, an email is fine – but please be quick to return emails. We had some people that took two or three days to get back to us, and having to wait that long turned us off. The way I look at it, if you’re going to post an ad but not return emails for three days, you’re not going to be a good landlord.

And one other thing, include a first name in the ad. It’s always uncomfortable to send an email to someone or call someone when you don’t have a name. I mean, usually when you call someone you ask for them by name…it’s just natural. By leaving off a first name, you might make people feel awkward enough not to call…and in some cases they won’t email either. Not listing your name is stupid reason to miss out on a renter.

5) Never underestimate the power of Craigslist

This last one is an important for anyone who is listing a property for rent online or offline. Craigslist is free! There is really no good reason not to put your property on it. And actually, the people who use Craigslist tend to make more money than the average person and are more educated than the average as well. That usually means a good tenant.

Craigslist is also a lot more pleasant to use than your average rental listing site…yeah, I’m talking about you Rent.com. It blows my mind that these big apartment complexes are paying good money to list their rentals on expensive sites like Rent.com and aren’t putting up listings on Craigslist. I mean, it’s free! Get on it.

But here’s the rub – Craigslist is free, but please treat it like it’s costing you money. Put some effort into your ad. Take some pictures. Get a floor plan. Make it look nice. The quality of your ad will reflect on the quality of your rental property…if you don’t spend the time, you’re not going to get the response you want.

So those are our five tips for listing a rental property on Craigslist. If you’ve got some of your own, leave them in the comments section. Thanks for reading!