How To Use Facebook Marketplace To Sell Your Rental Properties

As a property manager, one of the most important parts of managing your rental property is making sure that it stays occupied.

To do that, it is necessary to advertise it to the general public

And, one of the best ways to make sure that your rental listing is seen by enough people is by using one, or various, rental property listing sites.

In this guide we will be discussing Facebook Marketplace, specifically.

To begin, let's talk about why it could be beneficial to list your rental properties on Facebook Marketplace.

Why Is Facebook Marketplace Useful?

As we all know, Facebook has an incredibly large social presence. Being the largest social media network, Facebook has approximately 2.5 billion users a month.

This means that the majority of people looking to purchase property are going to have a Facebook account. So, using Facebook Marketplace is a great way to tap into this gigantic user base and get your rental listings much more exposure.

And, on top of that, Facebook Marketplace is a free-to-use service. This means that it takes very little time and effort to get set up on the site.

But those aren't the only benefits of using Facebook Rentals Marketplace. Below, we have outlined some of the pros and cons of listing your rental properties on Facebook Marketplace.

Pros & Cons Facebook Marketplace

In this section, we will discuss some of the important pros and cons to consider before listing your rental properties on Facebook Marketplace.

Pros

Increased listing visibility

As mentioned before, Facebook is the largest social media network out there. That means that listing your properties on the site will give your rental properties an incredible amount of exposure.

Getting your rental listings more exposure is extremely important for property managers because, as more people see it, there is a higher chance of prospective tenants applying. This is even easier when Facebook Marketplace rental advertisements are used, which push your rental properties to more people's screens.

Communication With Applicants

Another great benefit of Facebook marketplace rentals is that you can directly communicate with applicants. Using Facebook messenger, property managers can send messages directly to applicants, beginning the process of tenant screening.

Access To Social Media

One other benefit of listing your rental on Facebook marketplace, that no other rental listing site really has, is that you have direct access to the applicants' social media.

Anyone who is trying to sell their property may benefit from having access to applicants' social media because they can see how they present themselves as well as if they are a real person. This is extremely important for detecting scammers and avoiding losing time and money.

Cons

No Verification

One of the disadvantages of using Facebook marketplace to advertise rental properties is that there is no verification of the person listing the property. This means that anyone can go on and create fake listings and lure others into a scam.

Lack Of Property Management Features

Another downfall of using Facebook Rentals Marketplace is that there are no real property management features to help manage your rental properties.

Some of the property management tools that Facebook Marketplace lacks that other tools, like DoorLoop, may provide include:

• Accounting tools
• Automatic rent collection
• Tenant screening
• Maintenance management

…and so much more.

Lack Of Syndication

Unlike other listing sites, Facebook Marketplace does not offer syndication to other rental listing sites. This is a very important feature that other rental sites have because it allows for the property to gain even more exposure.

To compensate, however, you can post rental ads however often you like on Facebook to gain exposure for the property.

So, now that we know all about why posting on Facebook Rentals Marketplace can be beneficial, let's talk about how to actually post your rentals on the site.

How To Post On Facebook Marketplace

In this section, we will be going over the main steps that you need to take to list your rental properties on Facebook Marketplace.

Create A Facebook Account

The first step in being able to list rental properties on Facebook Marketplace is to create a Facebook account.

Chances are that you already have a Facebook account, but it is still important to note that an account is necessary for listing properties on the site. If you have never created an account, it is a very quick process and can be completed in only a couple of minutes.

Some people choose to create a secondary account to use strictly for their rental listings, but this isn't necessary. However, it is important to make your profile as elegant and legitimate as possible as you don't want to be confused with a scammer.

After creating an account, we can move on to the next steps in creating a rental listing.

Create The Listing

Now that we have an account set up, it's time to create a listing.

The first thing that you should do is to navigate to the "Marketplace" section of Facebook by clicking on "Marketplace" on the left sidebar.

Then, click on "Create New Listing" and choose "Home for Sale or Rent".

Then, you can start adding relevant information.

Adding Information

The next step in creating a rental property listing is adding property photos and property details to the listing. This information should be inputted into the fields shown here:

With Facebook Marketplace, you can add up to 50 photos and it is always a good idea to use as many photos as possible. These photos should be clear, crisp, and bright and should show the property's interior, exterior, and key amenities.

For the title, it is always best to keep it as concise as possible but also as descriptive as possible. This could mean something like "2 Bedroom Central Apartment in Miami" or anything similar.

After completing these fields, there are a few fields like bedrooms and bathrooms before getting to the property description. The property description can arguably be the most important part of the rental property listing, so its very important to make it as effective as possible.

Make sure to add as many details to the description as possible while following the Facebook Marketplace rules.

The last step is to add on all of the relevant amenities that the property has as well as the advanced details that are on the bottom of the page.

After finalizing the listing, it's time to publish it to gain the valuable exposure you are searching for.

Publish The Listing

All listings on Facebook Marketplace are automatically listed to the actual marketplace, but users are given the option to also list rentals to Facebook Groups.

Listing you rental inside Facebook Groups can be greatly beneficial as you are listing it directly to people who are interested in purchasing or renting a property. This can be extremely valuable and can get your rental property sold in much less time.

Boost The Listing

Another way to sell your property faster after publishing it is by running an ad campaign. This can done by setting a budget for your campaign and setting the number of days that you would like it to stay active.

Although this method can be pricey, it is the best way to promote your rental property on Facebook. You can also edit the audience for the ads, making sure that you only get locals viewing your ad.

Respond To Applicants

You have now successfully listed and advertised your rental property on Facebook Marketplace and can finally sit back and sift through all of the applications.

Remember to always respond to leads quickly and professionally to make sure that the prospective tenants stay interested in the property and possibly put in an offer!

However, it is important to remember that after finding a great tenant and being ready to rent your property out, Facebook Marketplace won't help with that. At that point, it may be best to look into a property management software, like DoorLoop.

DoorLoop

DoorLoop is a complete, full-service property management software designed to offer every tool you’d need to manage your properties, whether it’s one property or one thousand.

Designed with ease-of-use, speed, and world-class support in mind, DoorLoop is the only tool on this list that offers all of the features mentioned above. And, since it is a cloud based solution, it can be done from virtually anywhere!

Features:

• Robust accounting suite: Everything you need to manage all your property accounting in one place, no difficult QuickBooks workarounds necessary.
• QuickBooks integration: Rather integrate with QuickBooks and use it? You can do that too.
• Convenient tenant portal: Communicate with tenants and allow them to pay rent and other fees and even send in maintenance requests all from within the app.
• Invaluable maintenance management features: Speaking of maintenance, edit those requests with attachments, send them to vendors, pay those vendors, and even communicate with tenants on those requests simply and easily.
• A plethora of leasing tools: From automatic listings to background checks and leasing templates to make the entire process more streamlined.
• And much more

Pricing

One of the greatest characteristics of DoorLoop is its pricing. At only $49 per month for up to 20 units, it comes in at one of the cheapest options on this list.

Schedule a free demo today to see what DoorLoop can do for you.