Making Your Property Advertising Attractive to The Right Tenants

Finding any tenants for rental properties is not as easy as it seems, let alone good, reliable tenants that will keep the property in a good state of repair. However, there are plenty of ways to attract people to your property through the medium of advertisement.
Property advertising needn’t be a hassle once you know what you’re getting into. A property investment forum such as www.singingpig.co.uk, is a great place to find information on just how to attract tenants and get advice on ad campaigns and just what you should look for when setting them up.
In the Papers
Common sense says that if you're going to put out an advertisement, you should do it in the newspaper. The newspaper is where people look for property advertising, so be sure to include every selling point. Placing an ad can be costly, but it is a good idea that you let it run a few weeks in order to reel in just the right tenant. Advertising in the Sunday newspaper is usually enough, for despite the rates being higher than the daily advertisements, the readership is quite greater. Also, upon deciding to use your local newspaper for property advertising, you will want to find out if you can advertise on their website too.
On the Internet
Many people looking for property advertising will not be from your area, so its wise to take advantage of the Internet's low-cost and sometimes free advertising sites. Internet ads allow for a great deal more description than newspaper ads as well. Property advertising like this gives the owner the opportunity to include colour photos to attract tenants, providing them with most of the answers they might be having. Also, you can change your information at any time from any computer to update your advertisement instantaneously.
Apartment guides
Another cheap means to property advertising is to use apartment guides. Not only do they allow for more description than a newspaper ad, but they are more likely to be read than newspapers, seeing as apartment guides are free and they target specifically prospective tenants. Many guides will offer to help you with ad design, and allow you to change advertisements after you've submitted them. ‘For Rent’ signs
For Rent signs are also an easy and effective means of property advertising. All you need to do is buy the sign, and put it on the property with the phone number or other means of contact. You can even make the sign yourself thus making it the cheapest way of how to attract tenants. The only drawback is that For Rent signs will only attract those in the immediate area. However it does mean that if tenants are scoping out an area of their choice that your property is situated in, and they see that your property is available, they are more likely to contact you above someone else.
Estate Agents
If none of the above examples seem good enough, you may want to consider seeing a Real Estate Agent. They can advertise via both newspaper and Internet, at a lower price, plus they will bring in tenants of a higher quality. The catch here is that agents require commission, so you may want to check and make sure you can afford their services.

Are you paying higher interest on your credit cards than you think?

Many credit card holders sign up for a credit account with an 8.9% interest rate and then later realize that their interest rate has been bumped to 27.4%. Why?
You know that your credit score affects the credit card rates that you qualify for. But, did you know that a little clause in the fine print of the credit card terms and agreements, called the "Universal Default Penalty Clause" may mean that you're already paying a higher interest than when you signed up for the credit card? What does this fine print mean to you?
If your credit score goes down or one of your other credit conditions change, then your interest rate increases significantly. This doesn't mean any new charges you make to this particular credit card account: the higher rate affects the entire balance. Yes, even items you purchased with the understanding that your interest rate would remain the original rate.
Your credit grantors periodically review your credit report. Almost half of all credit card companies take advantage of you when you are perceived as a delinquent or high-risk borrower. The small print in your account information may include the universal default penalty, which allows the credit card company to increase your interest rate if it uncovers any of these six changes in your credit report:
1. You have a late payment on any credit account. The company doesn't care if you've never made a late payment to them.
2. You go over your available credit line on any credit account. Even if you unknowingly charge a small amount over the credit limit, which many credit card issuers let you do; your interest rate can be raised.
3. Your credit score declines. Just one late payment can hurt your credit score. Experian reports that people with no late or missed payments in the last year had an average credit score of 759; consumers with one or more late payments in the past year had an average score of 598.
4. You charge up too much on one account or many credit cards. If you charge up your credit card near the limit, or even charge up some of your credit cards over the preferred proportional amounts owed, you could pay extra for the privilege. The amount owed on a credit line compared to the available credit is termed the proportional amount owed. With a credit card limit of $5,000, the score will be higher if less than $2,500 is owed. Even better is to owe less than one-third of the available credit or less than $1501. Owing less than ten percent of the available balance gives you the best possible rating. On the other hand, owing over $4,500 on an account with a limit of $5,000 lowers your score considerably, especially if you have too many credit cards and other loans with high balances compared to available balances.
5. Your charge activities indicate a high debt-to-income ratio. If your credit card issuer sees that you've made many new charges and believes that you're getting in over your head, they may raise your interest rate. Even if this is a temporary situation, like many new home owners who make many purchases in a single month, the companies take advantage of the unsuspecting credit card holder.
6. You open new accounts. Opening new credit lines, especially consumer finance accounts, lowers your credit score and adds notations like "Too many consumer accounts" to your credit report. Once again, your credit card company may take advantage of this to raise your interest rate.
Credit cards that start with a low interest rate can jump to interest rates as high as 29.99%, if they find any of these new conditions listed on your credit report.
Check your credit card statements closely; look to see if your credit card grantor raised your interest rates. If you find that you're paying more than you thought, call your credit card company and ask the reason. Once you determine the cause, you can work on your credit issue. After you've fixed the problem, call back and ask for a reduction in your interest rate.
Copyright (c) 2005 Jeanette J. Fisher All Rights Reserved.

Ten Unobvious Ideas To Pull Visitors to Your Real Estate Agent Web Site

The number one key to getting business in the real estatehome sales market is to be people’s first contact. TheNational Association of Realtor’s last three surveys between1999 to 2003 said 66% of buyers stayed with the first realestate agent they contacted yet only 6% of this number camefrom web sites. This number is rising as people become morecomfortable finding their information on the Internet.There are three ways to show your uniqueness on theInternet: words, pictures, and interactive activities.
What is pulling prospects to visit your web site? You havethe obvious -- strategic alliances with lenders, title reps,home inspectors, appraisers and attorneys. Here are tenideas that aren't obvious.
1. Use balloons besides at the open house. Print an actionslogan on the balloon along with your URL -- web siteaddress. An action slogan is very important, otherwisepeople will not know what the URL is for. When attending anoutdoor event, like a fair, carry them, place them on yourchildren’s arm so you can find them, and hand them out.Take the balloons to the kids baseball games or othersports. If traveling with balloons is difficult, call theshow’s event office and find out if there is going to besomeone there with the equipment for balloon blowing. Whenyou get there, give them a few dollars to blow a few up foryou. You can order all sizes and balloon shapes:http://www.gopromos.com/store/category.asp?CL=101A1276A1292
2. On brochures add an action request, such as "Search allarea homes for sale anytime." Or change "anytime" to"24/7". If you don't have this on your brochures, go to anoffice supply store and pick up some colorful Avery labels,or maybe you have some hanging around the office, and createthem yourself. Also add your URL to that action request.Go ahead and use the stickers for a lock box action request,"If this house doesn't fit your needs, visit [URL] for acomplete search of other homes in this area".
3. Home-For-Sale Signage. Does your for sale front lawn ordirectional signs for the open house have your web siteaddress on them? If not, add them with along with an actionrequest for all those not quite ready that are driving by,or for those that don't have the time to stop at thatparticular time.
4. Community bulletin boards. Grocery stores, libraries,community centers. Post your business cards at minimum.Create tear off tabs small flyers that fit within theirrequirements with an action request and your URL.
5. "Honk, if you want to sell your home" can be a bumpersticker or a clear sign for the side or rear top portion ofthe back window.
6. Glow in the dark banners, stickers and auto stickers.Home signage like: Visit [URL] for complete information onthis property. Make it a glow in the dark for night timevisual effectiveness.
7. What about the times that you don't have office duty?What about setting up a table for 3-4 hours outside thegrocery stores. Add a nice table cloth, the balloons, and alarge sign, "Ask me anything about buying a home." Or, "Askus anything about selling a home." Switch approaches everyfew hours to see which one fits best. I don't suggest placeboth out there unless there are two of you. Create tee-shirts with the same action request along with the URL. Usea table covering that is the same color as the tee-shirt tohelp support your message and attractiveness.
8. Transit ads. What type of transportation is availablein the areas you focus in? Is there massive transit likebuses or metro? Don't forget taxi cabs, inside and out, aswell as the taxi stands. Find out where their direct phonelines are. Sometimes, yet rare, you can place an Averysticker next to. One sign works with well if you have thisability on your web site: "Take a virtual tour of ourlatest properties [URL]."
9. This one is something I dreamed up and it really works.Rig a button that people can press on the side of your carwindow that gives off a recording of the latest houses youavailable for sale. Then park in obvious places for peopleto see the button. Add a sign on the inside of the windowgiving them permission to press the button. Caution, thisdoesn't work with some car alarm systems.
10. Merchants. Where do you get your dry cleaning done?Hair cuts, massages, or other frequented stores. Do youhave some favorite restaurants? Can you stock a businesscard holder by the cash register? As a previous owner ofrestaurants, the one I like best is when the real estateagent paid for part of or the whole cost of the menus. Inexchange we allowed them to create some marketinginformation on the menus.
Testing is always important when trying new things. Inselling real estate, uniqueness is the key. As said in thelatest National Association of Realtors 2003 survey, mostpeople perceive all real estate agents as being the same.But you know you aren't. Yet, how are you showing it? Becomfortable with being uncomfortable. Create play and funand stretch with your marketing. Let it be as unique as youare and then smile all the way to the bank.