Tips For Marketing Your “Lease Break”
Leasebreaks are not easy. In fact, marketing them can be very difficult, especially if the landlord is requiring that you find a replacement tenant for the remaining months of your lease, thereby creating a “short-term rental” of a few months or more. (Most sites listing apartments in NYC focus on full one-year leases, if not longer.) Unfortunately, the burden of finding a replacement tenant is usually on you and um, guess what? You probably have a full time job. You don't have the time to market your apartment. This is not your area of expertise, nor should it be. Enter Leasebreak.com. We are a free online marketplace for just this kind of thing, and we are here to help you. In addition to the basic things you should be doing to properly market your apartment — on our site or any website, for that matter — there are more subtle-yet-important things you can do that specifically apply to a leasebreak situation. Take a look at the following pro tips for marketing yours!
- Double-check with your landlord to see if they will allow both a replacement tenant for the remainder of the lease OR a new 12-month tenant. Often a landlord will allow you to find a tenant who wants to sign a 12-month lease to take over your apartment. Sometimes they will not. If they allow both options, then great, because it will allow you to market your apartment both for the duration of the lease (the five months you have remaining, for instance) AND as a one-year rental. Our website specifically allows you to post your listing with both options, so that it appears in both the shorter-term search and 12-month search.
- Put in as much flexibility as possible with respect to availability. When people search for a leasebreak, they are often looking for specific dates. Our website allows for flexibility in end dates, so that your listing will appear in as many searches as possible. For example, if your lease ends July 31st, 2016, would you also accept a tenant who wants the lease until July 15th only? If so, make sure you add this flexibility to the dates when you post.
- Consider a “Featured Listing”.
We send out a weekly email blast with many of the apartments posted the previous week. We can highlight your apartment as a “Featured Listing”, giving you more exposure. (Contact us for more information.) - Partner with a real estate agent. While brokers sometimes have a bad reputation in the industry, there is nothing like a good agent to help you market your apartment, especially in the case of a leasebreak. The combination of posting on Leasebreak and working with an agent is the best way to market your apartment. And the best part? You don't have the pay any broker fee! (The incoming tenant pays). We can refer you to a great agent — just ask! Also here is a recent post explaining why there is almost all upside and no downside when working with an agent (if done the right way!).
- Furnish it! Again, the name of the game is to appeal to as many interested parties as possible. Often, people searching for short-term apartments would like them furnished. We can put you in touch with a reputable furniture provider, so that you can also list your apartment as furnished and appeal to a wider range of prospective tenants. Listing your apartment as both furnished AND unfurnished will make your apartment show up on more people’s search results. Feel free to get in touch at [email protected] for more information.
- Be aware of the inventory in your building. If your apartment is priced higher than the competition, or if there are lots of available apartments with standard 12-month leases, it will be difficult to rent your leasebreak. Consider offering an incentive such as reduced first month’s rent, a gift certificate to a nearby restaurant, paying part or all of the broker fee (if there is one), a cash bonus or other perk to stand out among the other rentals.