Making an apartment complex more attractive to prospective tenants. That’s our daily goal, isn’t it? And yet, it seems that many of the methods used to lure them cost an arm and a leg.

But that doesn’t have to be the case. So, in this blog, we’ll give you some simple and cost effective methods you can employ today that will set your property apart from the rest. Let’s just call them “lifehacks” for the apartment manager.

1. Staging. You can hit some estate sales, Goodwill, eBay, and similar buy, sell, trade sites or locations to get your hands on some good furnishing and decorating deals. Set up an empty unit as a showcase for the property, which will give prospects an idea of its potential. If this isn’t a possibility, make sure the office is welcoming and clean, with updated floor plans of all available units.
2. Find Your Place in Cyber Space. These days, there’s no excuse for not having a website. Yet, many still fall into the trap of believing them to be cost prohibitive. This is where a service like Wix.com comes in real handy. For a very low monthly cost, your property could easily have a super attractive and interactive site, that is so easy to build, someone with no experience could put one together in a matter of minutes. Just drag and drop.
3. Get Collateral. Just because you have a great website doesn’t mean you get to neglect those who like to have materials in-hand. Do a search on Google for “free brochure template.” Once you find one you like (and there are many great designs to choose from), you can modify the text and print directly to your own printer. If that’s not the option for you, VistaPrint is a great way to get high quality materials on the cheap. They are always running promotional deals, and Groupon often has a special where you can purchase $70 worth of printing services for around $17.
4. Think: big. The one known limitation to almost every apartment property is space. People want more of it, but that often comes with a price. Consider Pinterest your best friend in this case, which has boards specifically designed to help managers and tenants make the most of what’s available. You can either pull ideas from there to implement prior to renting a unit, or put together a helpful list of tips for tenants with ways they can implement the ideas themselves.
5. Go for quirk. Do something different that will easily make the property stand out. Paint all unit doors with a statement color, like red. This is a great option since paint is relatively cheap. For a bit more, you can scour building remnant or warehouse locations and find window shutters, which can all be refinished and painted to match.

I mentioned Pinterest, but it’s always appropriate to mention it again. Just do a search for apartment hacks or apartment lifehacks, and you’ll be inundated with some pretty great ideas for both you and your tenants to enjoy.