Apartments for Rent Made Easy

Social Media in Modern Times

Social media sites and online forums were created for groups of people who share a common idea, to be able to gather and talk about what interests them in one convenient area.  But social media isn’t just about that anymore. As the online community continues to grow, and more and more people come to visit your (once) little corner of the internet, social media presents a unique opportunity to many businesses and consumers.

Since Social Media sites bring together a wide selection of people, from across the spectrum of the internet, who all have one common goal, savvy consumers can use the group knowledge to leverage the market in the favor.

Using Social Media to find an apartment

If you’re looking to rent an apartment in Toronto or across Canada, and haven’t done so already, join an online community that specializes in apartment rentals in your area. Once your registered you will be able to talk to fellow renters, and discuss different apartments in your area, and compare things like; prices, layouts, landlords and more. Of the largest social media sites in the world today are YouTube, Twitter & Facebook, all great ways for landlords, companies and apartment seekers to meet and discuss different properties. Check out Rentseeker.ca’s Twitter, YouTube & Facebook pages for more information and discussions about apartments in your area.

Forums

Rentseeker.ca actually has built in social sharing and tenant forums & student forums on their site that allows Students, Tenants and Landlords, to interact with each other in their search for an apartment in Canada.

You can access the forum by logging in at RentSeeker.ca and selecting the links for Tenants, Landlords or Students. RentSeeker, as well as many companies are integrating Facebook and Twitter into their options, to allow you to connect to other renters through an already established medium.

Other Options

When you search for an apartment online, you might also come across reviews written by previous occupants (or sometimes neighbors) of the apartment. While it is a good idea to check out the reviews, keep in mind that it always represents an individual’s view of the apartment. Often what bothers him might not seem like a big deal to you and vice versa.

So join an online network! Its fun and can be greatly rewarding. Tell people what you are looking for, and help other people in their search for apartments. Who knows who or where you next lead can come from. It can be your neighbor, your friend, a future classmate or even a total stranger. Social Media sites present a unique opportunity to explore a wide range of possibilities in the market of your choice and offer apartment seekers a chance to interact with other people who share the same goal as you do.

-The RentSeeker.ca Team

If you are just beginning to search for an apartment for rent, you might be realizing that it is not as easy as it seemed. What started off as a simple, “Oh we just need a 2 bedroom next to the subway”, often becomes a lot more complex as the moving date looms nearer.

Details such as the property manager / property management company, its reputation, the neighbours you’ll be living next to for the foreseeable future and many other details, are all key issues that should be considered as you begin your apartment search.

Other moving considerations could include; new appliances, swimming pools, the location of the laundry room, other amenities, and many other small details that can make your next apartment either the place you love or hate.

With this in mind, RentSeeker .ca features a list of the top five things to keep in mind when renting an apartment in Toronto or anywhere throughout Canada & how we integrate these features to help renters gather as much information and research prior to renting a new apartment.

1) Floor Plans — 2D & 3D:

When you are searching the internet for a new apartment, it is often very helpful to see the floor plan prior. Everything in your apartment can be changed around except for the layout of your apartment, so make sure your comfortable with it. RentSeeker .ca features 2D & 3D  floor plans of every listing in its portfolio*.

(*if made available by the landlord)

Rentseeker .ca has introduced a new feature which some landlords are quickly taking advantage of, a 3D floor plan. This gives you, the renter a tremendous advantage, to clearly see the layout of the room and plan where to place your furniture.

Read the rest of this entry » «Apartment Renting Made Easy»

With so many websites to list apartments for rent online these days, we felt we needed to add something a little unique. A website that not only offers great search features for apartment rentals, but a place where apartment hunters can post what they’re looking for in an apartment and have Landlords / Property Managers contact them!

And so we came up with the Shout Our Corner for Renters & Landlords.

The Shout Out Corner is a fantastic way for apartment renters to simply post what they’re looking for in an apartment, taking a lot of the  effort out of searching and sifting through multiple ads online, and allows Landlords / Property Managers / Rental Staff, to proactively search for renters and notify them of availabilities based on renters inputted search criteria provided in the Shout Out Post List:

Here’s a a preview of what the Shout Out Corner looks like on RentSeeker.ca when logged in as a Renter:

Simply register on RentSeeker.ca for FREE,  fill out the form, and click save to post YOUR Shout Out!

We’re always looking for feedback, so let us know if you’ve used the Shout Out feature as a Renter or a Landlord and how your experience was using it.

Happy Apartment Hunting and good luck with your search!

The RentSeeker.ca Team

RentSeeker.ca Syndication

With constant turnover in the rental market, keeping ahead of tenant loss is the key to creating a property management portfolio with few to no vacancies. Oftentimes, filling your apartments for rent comes down to some very basic marketing strategies.

As the Internet grows, marketing has become more web-based for a variety of reasons, most notably, cost effectiveness. As a result, many landlords have allocated marketing dollars to online advertising forums, which generate exposure and, as a result, boost their company’s online visibility.

There are two ways to list or market properties online. Firstly, classifieds, like Kijiji, Craigslist, Backpage, OLX, and Oodle, are valuable when marketing a rental property as need be, which is a strategic way of targeting a specific building for vacancy problems. Bear in mind, though, that these websites are extremely time-consuming (requiring constant re-posting) and time-sensitive (popular listing types lose rank within hours of posting).

On the other hand, an ILS (internet listing site) like RentSeeker.ca, syndicates regularly with popular classifieds, providing the targeted, current and relevant search results of a classified—with benefits: Rental apartment search websites can be used as a tactic to enhance brand recognition, namely because they add multi-channel marketing to the equation.

RentSeeker.ca, for instance, leverages social media marketing tools to maximize a landlord’s online presence through the use of networking sites like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Digg, thereby grabbing the attention of a prospective resident on a variety of levels.

In addition to the traditional “suite type, amenities and rent” listing, more and more websites offer entire menus of value-adds that simplify the apartment hunting process. For instance, RentSeeker.ca provides renters with one-stop-shop access to entire inventories of available apartments for rent. In addition to providing direct email and telephone access to the landlord, the site also generates videos, floor plans and maps, such as Google Maps and Walkscore, to demonstrate the property’s accessibility and proximity to a variety of amenities, including shopping, schools and public transit.

This unique mix of multi-channel marketing ultimately increases the number of times a property and the brand behind it is viewed. As each property listed contains links directing prospective resident traffic to your website—via social media tools like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Digg, as well as videos, floor plans and maps—the advantage of listing an entire portfolio of apartments for rent on an ILS boils down to efficiency.

Listing in bulk with a full-service firm like RentSeeker.ca, is not only efficient as far as time is concerned. As Google indexes websites based on keywords, volume listings is a tactic to drive traffic to your properties on the ILS – and subsequently, your website – without having to compete for keywords in a competitive sphere such as “apartments for rent in Toronto.” So if you’re considering long-term SEO placement and improved Google rankings, listing your properties online in bulk – even in a fortuitous low-vacancy period – will continually drive traffic to your website while archiving inquiries. That means that when a rental unit does become available, filling it is just an email or phone call away.

This blog post was written in collaboration with data from the Marketing and Communications team at (RentSeeker.ca Corporate Sponsor), Greenwin Property Management: offering safe and vibrant rental apartments for all budgets in central and eastern Canada. Read more about apartments for rent, industry news and upcoming events in the community by visiting Greenwin’s blog and news page (www.greenwinpm.com). Join the conversation on Twitter (@GreenwinPM) and Facebook (facebook.com/GreenwinPM).

How can social media help your property management firm?

You already have an established company and many already a website by now. Now you just need to bring other people to it and generate interest in your apartments for rent. One of the most cost effective ways to do this is to use social media. There are a number of social media networking sites that will help you to make your website popular and help find renters, and the three main sources today that you’ll want to use include Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube.

For any business and landlord, it is very important that you start blogging or submitting entries on a social networking site(s). This way, you can market your vacancies to thousands of potential renters that are also connected to the social media site. These sites also provide you with instant communication, and most importantly these sites are free to join. You’ll also improve your search engine placement, so that people can search for you when they’re using Yahoo or Google in order to find out more about Toronto rentals or apartments for rent throughout Canada.

The best way to make the most of the social media advantage is to set up an account with all three social networking sites, especially Twitter. Twitter is one of the fastest growing social networking websites in the world, so you’ll be able to attract potential renters outside of Canada, which is especially ideal since many renters do move from out of state. When you post comments on your status, you can include the link to your company’s website, so that it won’t be hard for people to find. You can also post rental incentives for prospective renters and links pointing to corresponding information. Another great tool Twitter can be used for in the apartment rental industry is as an e-newsletter to residents. Notify them that you’re now on twitter and you might be surprised to see how many of them are too.

After creating an account with these social media sources, you’ll need to start making friends on each of these sites. You can start by inviting your friends, colleagues and yes, even other Landlords, to join the site, and then connect with their mutual friends. This will help your network to grow, since you’ll be surprised how many people you actually know and even get to meet. If the members that you’ve sent friend requests to have heard of you or your company, it is likely that your request will be accepted faster. You can also post information about any business / resident -related events that you’re going to be having. You can invite tenants to attend the event(s),and can create an RSVP list, so you’ll know how many people to prepare for.

For your YouTube channel, upload rental videos of your property and you can add them into your listings on many other sites as well such as RentSeeker.ca. We also produce rental videos for Landlords that have Toronto Apartment Rentals:

Don’t forget to be consistent when you’re using social media. You’ll need to check in a few times a day in order to update your status, add more friends, and to keep your network updated about the professional progress you’re making.

The RentSeeker.ca Team

For more information or to learn more how we can help create and manage your social media network, contact us.