New residents are the only potential tenants, are you doing enough to attract local military movers?
With frequent military moves, you may not think that an extra local one is in the cards for your community’s service members. The truth, though, is that those long distance housing decisions don’t always work out. There are military families considering their local housing options every day. Will they find you?
Why are they moving?
While most military moves are driven by PCS orders, service members and their families are also subject to the same circumstances that motivate the general public. Good schools, a growing family, and a promotion may be the impetus that motivates an upgrade in living situation. Not to mention, they may simply want a different neighborhood once they’ve become familiar with the local area.
An added dimension is base housing. While base housing does offer conveniences like short commutes and landscaping, not everyone finds they enjoy living in close proximity to co-workers or dealing with gate traffic every time they come and go.
Tapping into those potential motivations in your local community marketing is an essential component of attracting this subset of the military population.
Building Community Awareness
It is tempting to focus your marketing energy and dollars on the influx of PCSing families that arrive in the area every summer & winter break. But tapping into those people already in the area is a common sense aspect that should also be included. Local spouses clubs, base affiliated fun runs, and sponsoring educational opportunities through community services on base are all excellent starting points for building brand awareness.
Your Online Presence
Just because this demographic is local, don’t neglect your online marketing opportunities. While they are more likely than long distance home searchers to see a yard sign, they are busy and need to be motivated to consider your properties as one of their options. An active, engaged social media presence that serves as a resource on the local area should be cornerstone of your ongoing marketing strategy.
Sharing news about local events, connecting tenants with local resources and offering incentives for current tenants to recommend their friends can build that local awareness!
Your Visuals
Up to date visuals, like your headshots and listing photos are vital for local home searchers. Discrepancy between the listing photos and the curb appearance of a home create an instant barrier of distrust. Great visuals are an important step in attracting the attention of potential tenants. AHRN.com user Tiffany shared with us, “We don’t even consider the house if there are no photos.”
Build Credibility
It is imperative that property managers/landlords log in to AHRN.com to check for alerts and messages from interested potential tenants. It’s disheartening for home searchers to love a listing and either never hear back from the property manager or be told the house has been rented and the listing simply was not taken down. Out of date listings or a slow response on one property can cause all of a property manager’s listings out of the running for a disappointed family. To avoid missing contacts, white list AHRN.com in your email to ensure that all emails get through.
Local moves are also a great reason to get your properties listed as soon as you know they will be available – even if that date is months out! Local movers will need to plan around their current lease ending and are more likely to be casually searching during off peak times.
Do you actively market your properties to local military families?