A unit went vacant on the first, and you threw together a quick post: 'Nice 2BR available, call for details.' A week later you have eleven inquiries, nine of them asking the rent and whether pets are okay, and you've answered the same three questions over and over. The problem isn't your luck. It's that the listing left out everything a serious renter needs to decide.
A good listing does the screening for you. The more an honest, complete post answers up front, the fewer tire-kickers reach your inbox and the faster the right person books a showing. Here's what to include and where to put it.
Lead with a clear, honest headline
The headline is the one line everyone reads. Skip the adjectives and state the facts a renter searches for: type, location, and what makes it worth a click. 'Sunny 2BR near downtown, $1,450, available July 1' beats 'Must see! Won't last!' every time.
Resist the urge to oversell. If the photos and the visit don't match the hype, you've wasted everyone's afternoon, including yours.
Put the numbers people actually need
Most inquiries are just people fishing for details you left out. Put them in the listing and the questions stop. At a minimum:
- Rent, stated plainly, plus the deposit and what's included (water, heat, parking).
- Beds, baths, and square footage, so nobody pictures a different place.
- The available date, not 'now' if it's really three weeks out.
- Pet policy, smoking policy, and lease length, the rules people self-select on.
- Any cost that surprises tenants later, like a utility they pay or a non-refundable fee.
Honesty here is not just polite, it's efficient. Hiding the rent to 'get them on the phone' mostly gets you calls from people who walk the moment they hear the number.
Photos do the heavy lifting
Listings with real photos get taken seriously; listings without them get skipped. Shoot in daylight with the lights on, tidy first, and cover every room plus the kitchen, bathroom, and any outdoor space. A blurry shot of one corner of the living room raises more doubt than no photo at all.
Take the photos when the unit actually looks its best, after a cleaning and before the next tenant's stuff is anywhere near it.
Write a plain description, then share it widely
A few short paragraphs is plenty: the layout, the neighborhood, what's nearby, and any standout feature (in-unit laundry, a real parking spot, a quiet street). Write the way you'd describe it to a friend, not the way a brochure would.
Then get the link in front of people. Post it where renters in your area look, share it in local housing and neighborhood groups, and send it straight to anyone who's asked you about openings. A single link you can paste anywhere beats rewriting the same details across five sites.
Make it easy to inquire, and easy to handle
Every extra step costs you good prospects. Someone scrolling at lunch should be able to send a question in a few taps without making an account, downloading an app, or digging up your email. The lower the friction, the more real inquiries you get.
On your end, decide a few questions up front (move-in date, number of occupants, whether they've seen the rent and terms) and ask them the same way each time. Reply quickly while interest is fresh, keep the back-and-forth in one place so you're not hunting through texts, and line up showings in batches rather than one-off trips across town.
How Unitly helps
Unitly turns any unit into a public listing with a shareable link: headline, rent, beds and baths, square footage, available date, photos, and your description, all on one page. Prospects can send an inquiry right from that page without creating an account, and it is recorded against the unit and sent to you, so inquiries stay in one place instead of scattered across your phone and inbox.
It's part of the same setup you'd use to manage the unit once it's filled, and up to five active units are free, so you can list your next vacancy and see how the inquiries come in without paying anything to try it.