It always surprises me how many bad ads there are out there for rental properties. I think online forums like Craigslist might be partly to blame. In the days of newspapers being your only option for advertising a property for rent, you had a limited amount of space and had to pay per word or per line. That meant that every word counted, and no one was about to waste words!

These days, Craigslist offers a free forum with unlimited space. The result is really bad, rambling ads. And pictures are free, too, so people can post several really crappy ones rather than taking the trouble to get one really good one — as if quantity makes up for quality.

Don’t forget, though, your rental ad is a reflection on you as a business person — since that’s what you are as a landlord. The unlimited free space in an online ad can really benefit you, if you know how to use it properly. Here are a few things that your ad should include.

• Size of the place — number of bedrooms and bathrooms, square footage, etc.
• Type of rental — apartment, duplex, house, etc.
• Parking — off street, dedicated parking space, garage, etc.
• Amount of rent due each month
• Amount of deposit
• Pet deposit and restrictions — for instance, if you only accept cats and small dog breeds such as the Boston terrier or Italian greyhound

These components are the important things to include, but you will also need to format your ad so that it is easy to locate the information. A bulleted format, or a format with easily-scanned short paragraphs, is best.

Whatever you do, though, just don’t put it all in one paragraph with misspellings, no capital letters, and bad punctuation. Even if you have all the right information, you are going to turn off potential renters if you do that! Remember, you want to make an impression of professionalism.

If you want to learn more, here is a great blog post about the biggest mistakes to make when writing a for rent ad.

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