As you prepare to rent your property out in a competitive Los Angeles rental market, it’s important that you do everything you can to make the home attractive and welcoming. Staging the property can help you reach a larger pool of tenants and motivate those who come to a showing to fill out an application and ultimately sign a lease agreement.
Staged rental properties lease quicker than those that haven’t been staged, and they’ll often rent for more money. Here are five quick tips for staging your Los Angeles rental property.
Remove All Clutter and Personal Items
Tenants want to imagine themselves and their own belongings in the property. That’s going to be difficult if you have a lot of items left behind by former tenants. If you’re renting out a home that you once lived in yourself, make sure you remove all of your own property.
As you prepare your property for the rental market, there shouldn’t be any family photos, small appliances, toys, linens, or other personal belongings that may make tenants feel like the home has not been vacated. Don’t leave a political sign in the yard, and make sure there isn’t a pile of paperwork on the kitchen counter. You want to stage your rental property in a way that tenants will already see this place as their home.
A clean home empty of personal items should be easily seen in a virtual setting as well. Most tenants are starting their search online, so don’t let your pictures or videos reflect old college diplomas on the walls or a bathrobe on a door.
Clean Your Los Angeles Rental Property
The need for thorough cleaning cannot be overstated. It has always been an essential part of the staging and showing process, but since the COVID pandemic, it’s been even more important.
Professionally clean the entire property and make sure the attention to detail is perfect. No one is going to move into a property with dust. Make sure your team does a deep cleaning of the floors, walls, windows, doors, and ceiling.
Have the light switches and doorknobs disinfected and wiped down. All those high-touch areas need to sparkle. Give the shower wall tiles a professionally polished look and don’t let any water stains or mildew hamper the way your tubs and sinks look.
Let There be Light
Part of your staging process needs to be making your Los Angeles rental home feel warm and welcoming. Good lighting can do that. Brighten up each room with as much natural light as possible. Clean the light fixtures overhead and replace bulbs that are burnt out. If the home still looks dark, consider setting up some strategically placed lamps.
Landscaping and Outdoor Staging
Curb appeal really counts, and it needs to give prospective tenants a reason to feel excited about the home’s interior. Many tenants may not bother to see the inside if the exterior of a home is not attractive.
Trim your hedges and bushes so everything looks orderly. If there’s grass, make sure it’s been mowed recently. Pressure wash the outside of the building to remove cobwebs, insects, leaves, and debris. Continue pressure washing the walkways and driveways. Check the condition of your exterior paint; you don’t want it to be faded or peeling.
Consider flowers for your exterior and check your windows. How do they look from the street? Glass should be without smudges and fingerprints, and the blinds should not be bent or misshapen.
Remove any Unpleasant Odors
You’re appealing to a tenant’s five senses when you show a rental property. That includes scent.
If the home is musty and damp from being vacant, or there’s a lingering odor of pets or smoke, you’ll want to get rid of that quickly to avoid turning off tenants as soon as they walk in the door.
Clean the carpets and provide fresh paint for the walls. Use some scented candles before a showing or open the windows to allow some fresh air to circulate. Always turn on the ceiling fans and the air conditioning before prospective tenants arrive.
These are some of the most affordable and effective ways to stage a Los Angeles rental property. If you’d like some help with your leasing process, please contact us at EGL Properties.