How to attract childless families?

[breco]

Hi everyone, this is my first post here, hoping to get some good advice from seasoned landlords. We bought a house (main floor suite and basement suite) a year ago and now the main floor tenants are moving and we're trying to find new tenants.



The suite is nice, it's big, it's in a good location, and the rent is in line with the area and similar properties. The only problem is there is very little yard and it's not fenced. We've had 8 showings, 6 of them to young families who have stated that while they love the suite, they need a place with a fenced yard.



We would like to re-write our ad (posted on Kijiji and Rentfaster) so that we attract more a different tenant profile, specifically individuals or couples with no children. Are there buzz words or phrases that we can use? We don't want to say outright who we'd like to rent to but would like to subtly hint that our suite may not be of interest to families while catching the eye of our target tenants.



Any help would be greatly appreciated, thank you.



Amy

 

[paul85s10355]

Couldn't you just build a fence?

 

[OlegP]

Amy,



If you are in Ontario, you don't want to walk a slippery slope of being accussed of discrimination against families with children by using phrases such as "Adult Lifestyle" or "Ideal for Couples". Outside of Ontario, you may want to check whether your Human Rights Commission has similar regulations in place. So the workaround is to get your prospects to picture living their and doing activities that do not involve children, i.e. "enjoy watching a sunset sitting in your backyard with a glass of wine" or something like that.



If you need more ideas on the verbiage, please send me an e-mail. My wife, Allison, is a copywriter and she might have some suggestions.



Oleg

[email protected]

 

[2ndstory]

I don't understand why you do not want to rent to families, but if you don't, phrase it positively, like ideal for young couple or young professionals. Make sure your decision about choosing tenants is defensible from a legal standpoint.



Nik

 

[breco]

I want to clarify that I have absolutely no problems renting to families. However, it appears this is not a suite that families want because of the lack of yard, so we need to re-write the ad to attract couples without children because we are wasting our time and theirs by showing to people whose needs are different than what the suite offers.



I hope that makes sense. If we get a family that doesn't mind the lack of a yard then that is wonderful. But the people who viewed the suite and either applied or were fairly interested were all childless.



Amy

 

[DenisEncontre]

You might want to pre-screen/qualify your prospective tenants over the phone before wasting your time and theirs showing the suite.

 

[invst4profit]

If the size of the yard is the main problem why not point out in the add that the yard is small but adequate for a BBQ. This should get the point across or may prompt questions from perspective applicants before they visit.

 

[FourBell]

I agree with Denis. Simply pre-screen your tenants and inform them when they call that the yard may not be suitable for children.

Personally I would not mention it in the ad, as it will read as a negative even to those that don't necessarily need a yard.

If you pre-screen, you can filter out the prospects that need a yard, as well as those that simply can't afford it, and usually most of the tire-kickers as well.



Jason Bell

Four Bell Properties

204-995-9665

[email protected]

 

[Hutchym]

You could advertise as "low maintenance yard" or something like that. As Greg said be sure to put in another positive such as how its perfect for bbq's. Small yard + low maintenance + great BBQ area (entertaining) = success for young couple!









Mike

 

[kir]

Birds of the same feather flock together.

I would just embrace the neighborhood lifestyle and conform to what people want.

Go with the flow is my advice.



Kir.