Houses For Rent On Marketplace: How Ads On Facebook Work

Landlords have an incredible number of options when it comes to advertising their rentals. From local newspapers to online portals, renters browse properties almost everywhere. Marketplace rentals, which are listings on Facebook, are rapidly becoming a place these tenants browse.

Do Marketplace rentals near me help landlords find great tenants, or is this just another part of a social media site that isn’t worth exploring?

Landlords who aren’t used to using the buying, selling, and other business features of Facebook might not understand how a personal social media site can be used for commerce. Today, we’ll try to break down Marketplace rentals and home listings to make them more accessible, no matter your Facebook experience level.

Table Of Contents On Marketplace Houses For Rent

Facebook Marketplace initially gained popularity for buying and selling items in your local area, but has since expanded to include national sales and even home rentals. What does this mean for landlords, and how exactly do Marketplace home rentals work?

What Is Marketplace?

What Is Marketplace?

Facebook Marketplace is an online buying and selling platform that is part of the overall Facebook site. It’s one of the many ways that Facebook continues to expand beyond social media to provide a broader scope of services to its millions of users.

Marketplace allows individuals to buy and sell items, but it also enables landlords and property owners to list rental properties. This gives landlords another venue to advertise their properties, and renters can browse rentals in their area on this site.

Landlords or rental businesses must create listings directly on Facebook Marketplace, and the site currently does not syndicate listings from any other website. This means that some properties are only listed on Marketplace, and renters tend to include Marketplace in their search.

How Does Marketplace Work For Rentals?

The layout of the Marketplace of rentals doesn’t look much different from that of the general Marketplace.

Facebook users should log in and then click the “Marketplace” icon on their navigation menu. The icon looks like a shop. From there, scroll through the categories and click “rentals.” You’ll then be looking at apartments and houses for rent on Marketplace. Once on the rentals page, the listings can be further filtered.

How To List A Rental On Facebook Marketplace

Listing a rental isn’t difficult to do on Facebook Marketplace.

On the Marketplace homepage, you can click “Create a new listing.” You will then be walked through the creation process, which includes:

  • Choosing the rental category
  • Adding photos
  • Filling in basic property information, such as property type
  • Describing the property in detail
  • Adding advanced information, such as square footage

As you create the listing, you will be shown a preview on the right-hand side of your screen. This allows you to see what the listing will look like to potential renters as you go. Be sure to check this and make the necessary adjustments to make the property as appealing as possible.

Once you complete the walkthrough, you can confirm your listing and post it. Soon, your listing will be seen by potential tenants looking in your area.

Is Using Facebook Marketplace Worth It?

Deciding if Marketplace is a good place for you to list rentals is complex, and the right choice varies by landlord. Dive into the following pros and cons to get a better idea of what you might be working with on Facebook and whether it will benefit you.

Pros Of Using Marketplace

Lots Of Views

Tons of people use Facebook, and more use Facebook Marketplace every day that passes. Some are using it just for the buying and selling features, but the rental listing section is getting more and more popular with landlords and renters alike. This means lots of people will see your listings. More people might see your listings than ever before.

Having many potential applicants is excellent because you will have a larger pool to choose from. Of course, you’ll want to ensure you weed out the wrong applications and screen to find the right tenant for your property.

Free Advertising

Advertising listings are typically free on Facebook Marketplace, though there are ways for you to boost or otherwise highlight your listings for a fee. Generally, however, it’s a very affordable way to find renters for properties that might otherwise sit vacant.

If you’re already putting together online listings, it doesn’t take a lot of time to add Facebook to the mix. Take the same listing and add it to this marketplace to get as much advertising as possible.

In-App Communication

Some landlords enjoy how easy it is to communicate with potential applicants or tenants through Facebook Messenger. This in-app communication tool makes it easy to connect quickly, answer any questions, and provide necessary information to move the process along quickly.

Take a look at how to post on marketplace including coming up with a headline, description and more:

Cons Of Using Marketplace

Sometimes, Facebook Marketplace may not be right for every landlord. Here are a few of the cons when considering listing your rental on Facebook.

Answering Inquiries

Another aspect of listing on a site like Facebook that people are accustomed to using as a social media site is that some will want (and expect) to be social. That’s great for potential tenants who want to ask questions, but you may find that some people are wasting your time with their inquiries. It’s hard to tell how serious people are when these inquiries come in.

The best way to counteract this issue is to ensure that your listing is thorough and includes a phrase like “serious inquiries only” to help deter curious minds who aren’t ready to rent just yet.

No Landlord Portal Integrations

Many landlords prefer to advertise on sites that allow rent collection or other management protocols on the same site. Facebook Marketplace doesn’t have any of these advanced features; it simply sets up a listing on their advertising platform.

Lacks Listing Syndication

Some listing portals syndicate your listings onto other websites. This means that when you post in one place, you are actually posting on various sites. This is a great way to make a little bit of effort go a long way when managing your business as a busy landlord. On Facebook Marketplace, however, there is no listing syndication.

Marketplace Listing Tips

What’s the secret to making your listing stand out among others on Facebook Marketplace?

The best way to ensure your listings get seen by the right renters is to follow the same best practices you use on any listing site:

  • Several clear photos
    Renters want to see what it is that they’re considering before they do an actual apartment visit. Ensure you upload several photos, and make sure these photos highlight the best parts of the apartment. Show all bedrooms and bathrooms as well as the kitchen, the basement, outdoor space, and any communal space.
  • All rental unit information
    Ensure your listing has clear, accurate information about its size, utilities, included appliances, number of bathrooms and bedrooms, and any other pertinent information. Providing this information up front saves you time as you won’t have to answer as many inquiries.
  • List any rules that might deter renters
    Another time-saving tip is to include any rules you have, such as no pets, in the listing. This will keep tenants from applying if they can’t follow those rules, saving everyone time.

Over time, you’ll see what works best and what types of questions viewers regularly ask. Start including the answers to these questions in the listing so the entire process is streamlined as much as possible.

Your Consistent Need: Tenant Screening

Marketplace Listing Tips

Regardless of where you decide to advertise, it’s essential to have great tenant screening practices in place. Prospective tenants from any avenue may or may not be a good fit. The only way to be sure is to screen them properly.

Screening is one of the most essential parts of the rental process, but it can also be challenging. Landlords don’t always have a lot of time to do thorough screening, or they may feel pressure to rent quickly due to vacancy costs. This can lead to incomplete screening. Sometimes that works out, and sometimes skipping screening leads to unpaid rent and eviction. It’s key to ensure you have a tenant screening process that works for you.

Simplify your tenant screening process with high-quality tenant screening from RentPrep. Our screening packages give you various ways to streamline and improve your tenant screening to ensure you can find the right fit. Wait no longer; start better screening today.

Marketplace Rental FAQs

Will my name show up on Marketplace rental listings?

One of the most significant drawbacks for many landlords when using Facebook Marketplace is using a profile to create a listing. This means that you, or your property manager, will need to be using a logged-in account to make the listing.

While tenants will know your name once they are working with you, not all landlords are comfortable linking their business to their personal social media account in such a public way. Suppose this is going to be uncomfortable for you. In that case, it might be best to try using a business-specific account or otherwise separate yourself from the account if you are using it for business.

Creating a business profile and then using this account to create listings is possible. However, keep in mind that Facebook offers an “Include listings from individuals only” filtering option. Listings made by businesses will not be included in these search results. Whether or not that is important to you is wholly dependent on your personal preference. However, keeping it linked to an individual account does have its own unique benefits.

Of course, that is not to say that you should create a fake profile. It’s important to be honest and transparent with all potential tenants. If you decide to use Facebook Marketplace to list rentals, it’s key to figure out how to balance the site’s privacy aspect.

Can Facebook Marketplace listings be filtered?

Yes.  Users browse listings in the rentals category on Facebook and refine their search results with several different filters:

  • Square footage
  • Price
  • Bedrooms
  • Bathrooms
  • Rental type

When entering listings, it’s important to be as thorough and accurate as possible. This will allow renters to find your listings easily if it matches their needs. This saves everyone, including landlords like you, time since you will not waste any answering inquiries that aren’t likely to lead to business.

Is Facebook good for rentals?

Every landlord who has tried Facebook Marketplace for rentals is likely to have a unique answer to this question.

For some, the site provides a quick and easy way to gain access to more renters, leading to more applications and filling vacancies faster. For other landlords, answering inquiries from those who aren’t very interested wastes their time and doesn’t actually reduce vacancies.

Ultimately, whether or not the site’s rental listings work for your business will depend on your business needs, property types, ideal tenants, the current market, and several other factors. The best way to determine if listing on Facebook Marketplace is good for you is to actually give it a try.

From there, you can determine if any time investment leads to a positive return. Otherwise, move on to trying other rental marketplaces instead.

How can I use Facebook Marketplace to find tenants?

Sometimes, a potential tenant will reach out with a question about a listed property. Even though they aren’t interested in that particular rental, you might have others in your arsenal that are soon-to-be available that fit their needs. By making the initial connection, you are able to continue business with a future tenant.

Many landlords have found that using Facebook Marketplace has given them a lot more experience with talking to renters, which has led to generating more leads than they imagined even when the original listing doesn’t pan out.

Marketplace Rentals: One Of Many

As a landlord, you’ve probably noticed just how many different places there are for you to advertise your rental properties. It can be overwhelming even, to try to find all of the options and determine what will work best for you.

Rather than approaching this issue with a completionist mindset, it’s better to think about what has historically worked for you. Consider:

  • How many inquiries were received through the platform
  • How many of those inquiries turned into applications
  • How many of those applications turned into rentals

You’ll be able to get an idea of which platforms have been working for your business as well as what renters in your area are browsing. Then, gradually add a few more avenues when dealing with vacancies to see what other marketplaces have potential. Facebook Marketplace may be one of those sites; it might not.

Ultimately, taking time to improve where you list your rentals will bring in more applications. More applications mean more potential tenants, and that will allow you to complete thorough tenant screening to find the perfect fit for your property. As a landlord, that’s the ideal.