How to List Your House for Rent in Florida

⚠️ Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal, financial, or real estate advice. Rental laws, licensing, and regulations vary by city and county in Florida. Consult a licensed attorney, real estate professional, or local authorities to ensure compliance before listing your property.

So you own a rental property in Florida, right? Your investment is empty, and you need to find a tenant ASAP. But how do you get your rental property in front of the public eye? Well, today I’m going to share with you how to list your Florida house for rent. By taking these steps, you’ll achieve massive success online. And maybe you’ll find your perfect tenant to generate huge profits for many years to come.

Make Your Property Rent-Ready

Now, before you list your rental property in Florida, there’s one important step a landlord should take — and I want to stress the importance of this — to make sure that before you list your house, you double-check that your rental property is in a rent-ready state, before you go live and do showings on all platforms. I’m talking fresh, clean, hotel-quality, and ready to move in. If you have any questions about that, let me know because I have a rent-ready checklist for you. But for today’s article, we’re going to start with how to get started renting your property.

Determine the Rental Rate

Set an Accurate Rental Price

When you’re about to list your Florida rental house, one of the first things it will ask you is the rent amount. So you’ll want to determine the rental rate for your property. Pricing your rental property in Florida is an art form wrapped in data science. If you’re listing your property yourself, you should find your favorite rental analysis platform. And over time you’ll learn the ones that are most accurate for your property and the market you’re in.

Use Rental Analysis Tools

Some of the platforms that are going to help you determine the right rent rate for your property are platforms like Rentometer, Rent Range, Zillow Rent Estimator, or your local property manager are just a few of the many providers out there that will be able to provide you with some accurate numbers. Just keep in mind that the rent rate is only a suggestion. It is only as good as the data they feed it, whether they generate it themselves or their algorithm. Most of these will be paid service providers. For example, the Rent Range which I mentioned earlier charges around $14 per report, and it will be the same. But be careful because this is not a be-all and end-all report, and you should definitely do additional research.

Check the Local Competition

A solid, quick, free rental analysis you can do yourself is to just go to Zillow, check your local competition in your Florida neighborhood, and adjust your price based on your property and its condition. I want to price it lower than the competition and rent it in half the time.

Presentation and Marketing

Then there is the overall condition of your property and determining the correct price for your rental, effectively showcasing the rental to the public will be crucial to leasing your home quickly and letting it to quality tenants for top dollar. There are two parts to properly marketing your rental property, and that is presentation and distribution. Technology has made it so easy for anyone to become a pro photographer, and with the simplicity of the many syndication platforms out there on which you list your investment property, it creates a lot of inventory for potential tenants to choose from.

Take Quality Photos and Videos

Use the Right Tools

So the first step to attracting quality tenants is showcasing your property with quality photos and video. Your photos should show the property in its best light. Some techniques that I have used and found to be successful and fairly easy for you to implement are going to use a wide-angle lens. A new iPhone will work just fine. You don’t have to go out and buy a super expensive camera. These cameras can be very difficult to operate, and a new iPhone or a new phone with a wide-angle lens will work just fine. 

Shoot Horizontally and Focus on Lighting

What I think is pretty common sense, but I learned and saw this mistake during training that I would like to share, is that you want to make sure you’re taking pictures of sandwiches, not hot dogs. And by that I mean horizontally, not vertically.

The most important thing with photos is lighting. This is very important. Make sure the lights is on before you start shooting. 

Consider Video Tours

Video tours are also very important these days to help show your rental property to potential tenants before they actually tour it.

“You never get a second chance to make a first impression.”
— Will Rogers

Distribute Your Listing Widely

Syndicate Across Rental Platforms

Finally, get your Florida rental property out to the public. You want as many eyeballs as possible on your property, and to do that, you need to syndicate your property to as many online multiple listing service platforms as possible where most renters are searching, meaning you want to see it listed on Zillow, Apartments.com, Realtor.com, Zumper, Trulia, and any other platform. Listing your rental on multiple platforms can be difficult to manage on your own without some property management software and systems in place.

Consider Property Management or Software

So if you want minimal work, I always recommend hiring a property manager, but there are also many different landlord-friendly software out there like Avail, Zillow Rental Manager, Apartments.com Rental Manager.

conclusion

Listing your rental property in Florida through the right way comes down to preparation, presentation and reach. By accurately pricing, showcasing your property with quality photos and video and marketing across all top platforms you will attract better tenants and reduce your vacancy time as well. These smart steps impact bigger differences in your returns. Only when you stay consistent, stay detailed and you will set up yourself for long term success.