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Student Accomodation, Homes For Rent, Rental Home Apartments, Rental Homes for Western University (UWO) and Fanshawe College Students in London, Ontario

How To Stage and Show Your Student Rental Property to Prospective Students for Accommodation (Especially for Landlords in London, Ontario around Fanshawe College and UWO)

2/22/2014

 
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It is that time of the year again where your current tenants will be giving you notice as to whether or not they will be staying on to continue to rent your student property or if they will be leaving. Usually, with Fanshawe College students in London, Ontario, since their programs are so short, they will most likely not renew their lease on your property. However, since Western University (UWO) students have longer programs, they tend to stay in their current student rental homes for at least 2 years, if not 3. Below is a shortlist of things that Landlords in London, Ontario must accomplish to allow their showings to lead to lease signings for their student accommodation properties:

1.       Exterior Maintenance and Cleanup

Now with the snow melting in London, Ontario, Landlords need to start cleaning up the exterior of the property. This includes shoveling driveways, patios, walkways, cleaning any garbage on the perimeter of the property, replacing light bulbs on the exterior of the structure, clean up eaves troughs, removing the garbage and recycling from the property etc. When students and parents are coming to check out the house, they need to see it in the best light possible.

2.       Interior Maintenance and Scheduled Cleaning

The most difficult part of a property rental services company is to show houses that students are currently living in. Sometimes students can be clean, and organize the property for showings. However, this usually is not the case. The Landlords of these properties (at Fanshawe College and Western University in London, Ontario, especially) need to hire cleaning people to clean their student houses top to bottom. Also, Landlords need to inspect their properties and make a list of things that need to be accomplished to make sure the house sparkles for the next group of showing. This list may include changing light bulbs, attaching smoke alarms, cleaning, fixing toilets/small repairs, replacing broken roof tiles, making sure all door locks can be opened/closed, etc. etc. There is no model unit for your property. Therefore, it needs to sparkle even though the tenants are living inside for prospective showings to parents and their son or daughter that attends Western University or Fanshawe College. If you do not take this advice, you run the risk of not being rented out starting on May 1.

3.       Hiring a Professional Real Estate Photographer

This one is fairly straight forward. When posting ads on the internet trying to market your student rental property, you need professional photos of the property either professionally staged, or clean and empty. This will increase the number of potential prospective student tenants who will be clicking on your ads online and set up showings to view the property. Pictures of properties that are not maintained, dirty and with students living inside are not conducive to a lot of demand from students to come and check out your rental property.

4.       Listen To Your Property Rental Agent and Company in London, Ontario

If your house is going to be up for rent, and a rental property agency, as a student property Landlord you need to listen to your agent with your listing. If the agent has showed your property a dozen times, and it’s not renting out, there are several problems that must be addressed prior to a successful showing leading to a lease signing. Listen to your rental property agent, as they have been into most of the student rental properties in the area, and they know exactly why your rental property has not rented yet (price, location, condition, etc.). If you are willing to listen and be flexible with your new lease and tenants, which may require spending some money to make your own house look good and show beautifully, then your property rental agent will be able to rent out your property.


Are You A Western University Student Needing a Home For Rent or Student Accommodation? This is Your Ultimate Guide Rental Home Guide.

1/19/2014

 
Since the Western University 2014 rental season is officially upon us, I would like to help Western University students find a rental home, student accommodation, or an apartment in London, Ontario for the upcoming year. Below is a short list of where you need to go to find a student rental home, and why you need to use the service.

1.       Ask Your Friends For Their House If You Like It

I see this happening with a lot of Western University students recently. If you know someone and their entire group is moving out of the house, and you have a group who really wants the house, ask your friends for the Landlord’s phone number. In this scenario, you will have already seen the house, knows who lives there and the ins and outs of the house, and your friends who live there will be able to vouch for the Landlord.

2.       Western University (UWO) Off Campus Housing

Western University Off Campus Housing has received a much needed facelift recently, and their ads are usually of higher quality because each Landlord/business must pay $10 to post an ad. This service filters out much of the noise available on other services and boils it down to owners looking to rent specifically to Western University ungraduated, international, or graduate students. The only issues with UWO Off Campus Housing is the fact that there are only 3 pictures allowed to be uploaded (and pictures can be deceiving), no videos are allowed to be posted, and the description of the properties are limited. However, this is still a great resource to start looking for a property. 

3.       Kijiji – London, Ontario – House Rental / Room Rental Ads

If you are a Western University student looking for a rental home or student accommodation on Kijiji, please be careful. Kijiji has some great built in features like the highly specialized search filters (price/bedrooms/location/keyword/etc.), allows 10 pictures and a video link, as well as a generous section to properly detail your ad. Also, since Kijiji is the most popular platform every landlord posts their ads on this service as well as it is free. Here is what you need to watch out for on Kijiji:

-          Semi – Completed Ads: If the ad doesn’t have many pictures, or doesn’t have a detailed description of the property, bedrooms, prices, when the lease starts, what is included, etc. be very hesitant. 

-          Scams: There are several scams out there where (usually foreign and fake) people try to get you to email money transfer them a deposit without viewing the property and then not hearing from them again. Keep a close eye on anything suspicious. 

-          Noise: On Kijiji there is a lot of noise. Right now, there are over 1400 house rental ads in London, Ontario. Hundreds of those ads have expired, already are rented out, have an unresponsive landlord who won’t respond to emails, and some ads are reposted dozens of times. If you can filter out the noise on Kijiji, you will be able to set up showings at several houses. 

4.       Student Rental Companies That Rent Homes for Student Accommodation to Western Students (i.e. corerentals.ca)

There are about a handful of companies that rent homes, student accommodation, and apartments in London to students from Western University (and Fanshawe College). We don’t want to give them free advertising on this site, but you have seen the blue signs, green signs, purple signs, yellow signs, etc. all over the Western University bubble. These companies use the listing services above to help market their properties, but ultimately they have the contracts with owners to rent them out to students. Here is a shameless plug for our service at Core Property Rentals and Management, where we specialize in renting to Western University (UWO) students looking for homes for rent, student accommodation and rental homes in London, Ontario. We have our own properties and can show you any property that is available on this wensite.

What Western University and Fanshawe College Students Need To Know When Renting A Student House

12/30/2013

 
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Finding a student rental property around a college or university campus can be difficult. There is not one platform (i.e. Western Off Campus Housing) that helps you with all of your needs. Since a lot of Fanshawe and Western students are going to be back in London, Ontario in the next week and aggressively looking at prospective student rental properties, here is a list of things you need to know about when searching for a student rental:



1.       Start Looking at Student Houses Early

This is one of the biggest points on this list. Easily put, all houses are up for rent in December/January prior to May 1/Sep 1 of the upcoming rental year. There are a limited number of nice houses, and the groups that look at student housing before others are going to find the best quality properties and the best landlords. It’s as simple as that.

2.       Have Your Deposits Ready

Many students look at several houses in the same day, and find one they really like, but a few of their friends don’t have the last months rent to pay for the deposit. When showing a house to a group of prospective tenants, all of the tenants who want to take on the house need to have the full amount of the deposit. For example, if you are 5 people paying $500/bedroom in a house, the rental agent needs $2500 from the entire group to sign you up. If you wait a couple days to organize your friends and the deposits, the rental agent may have found a more prepared group to rent the house.

3.       Understand Who You Are Looking At Houses With

A lot of the time student rental groups acquire about properties, and say “we want to see 5 bedroom and 6 bedroom houses at Western or Fanshawe.” This is a little bit frustrating because I know the group is not very serious in renting and instead kicking tires on a lot of houses. The best advice here is to narrow down who you are living with and going to look at houses with the intent on signing on to a house that fits your needs.

4.       Negotiate The Price of Rent And Other Amenities

The price of rent is never set in stone. If you look at a house and think the price of rent is a little too high, look at similar houses for rent on the same street or area and find out if the price is actually a too high, or if it is a fair rental price. If it is very early in the rental season, and you have done some research and are confident you can negotiate the price of rent per month (or other things like access to a garage or internet access) you will not lose anything by simply asking the Landlord or rental agent.

5.       Ask If Utilities Are Included

Students are usually looking for at least all of the utilities included. At Western University and Fanshawe College, utilities all inclusive usually means water, electricity, and hot water rental. The owner is also on the hook for the mortgage, insurance, and property taxes. Utilities usually do not include cable and internet, which are two amenities that almost all students need. Students need to figure out is they can have the owner include cable/internet, or figure out how much it would cost per person, per month to have pay for these amenities out of pocket each month.

6.       Ask Information About The Landlord

If the Landlord is not showing you the house that’s available for rent, it’s always a good idea to ask questions about them. Questions concerning such things as how many rental properties the person owns, does the owner live in the same city as the rental property, and what are their plans (if any) for the rental property in question for the next year. These are all good questions to ask to feel out the Landlord and understand the relationship that you may have with this individual.

7.       Look At Several Houses

Prospective tenants need to look at several houses and find the right fit for themselves and their group. Usually a group of tenants will search online for houses, find 5-10 that may be the right fit and go and check them all out in a 1 or 2 day span and settle on a house. It is not wise to only check out 1 or 2 houses, and settles on one, with half the group seeing the house and being expected to put a deposit down. Looking at several houses allows prospective tenants to understand what is available, how much a house is worth, and finding the best fit for yourself and your group.

If you have any questions or want to check out properties that are for rent around Western University or Fanshawe College, send me an email at chris@corerentals.ca.



    Author

    Core Property Rentals and Management's Advice on Student Rental Properties at Fanshawe College and Western University in London, Ontario, Canada.

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