Most owners put their energy into screening and almost none into the listing. Then the unit sits, the few inquiries that arrive are rushed or careless, and it starts to feel like good renters don’t exist. They do. They just scrolled past your ad. This post is for owners and investors who want a listing that pulls in careful, qualified renters, and it’s one piece of how to market a rental property and fill vacancies fast. We’ll cover photos, wording, pricing, what you can’t say in a Philadelphia ad, and how to read the numbers once it’s live.
We manage 1,000 properties and have been at this for 40 years, so most of what follows comes from watching what makes a listing work.
In This Guide
Your listing screens tenants before you do
A good renter compares a lot of listings in one sitting. They have options. If your ad doesn’t say what they’re getting, they won’t email to ask. They’ll open the next tab.
Say an owner writes a two-sentence listing with the bedroom count and the rent. The only people who respond ask no questions and want to move in this week. That isn’t bad luck. The listing filtered out the cautious, prepared renters and kept everyone else.
Screening matters, but it only works on the pool you attract.
Screening sorts the applicants who show up. The listing decides who shows up.
Photos do the first job
Picture a landlord who snaps one phone photo on a cloudy afternoon and posts it the day the unit goes vacant. A renter comparing that ad with a professionally shot unit at the same price clicks away in under ten seconds. The landlord never knows they were there.
We shoot with LiDAR cameras, which give us HDR photography, virtual tours, floor plans and video. The floor plan alone answers the question renters can’t ask a photo: will my furniture fit?
Whoever takes the photos, cover these:
- Every room, same lighting: daytime, lights on, blinds open.
- Kitchen and bathrooms: counters cleared, nothing on the tub edge.
- A floor plan or room sizes: renters measure before they inquire.
- Entrance and street view: it’s the first thing they’ll see in person.
- The odd extras: storage, laundry, outdoor space, a good window.
Lead with your best photo. On most sites it’s the only one people see before deciding to click.
Write for one reader, not a crowd
Lead with the details that decide things
Open the headline with bedrooms, the neighborhood and one standout feature. Something like “Bright 2-Bed with In-Unit Laundry in Fairmount, $1,800” does more than “Great Apartment Available!”
Then put rent, availability and the main selling points in the first two or three lines. Plenty of people never scroll further.
Show value, not a feature list
“Hardwood floors, updated kitchen” tells a renter what exists. It doesn’t help them picture a Tuesday night in the place. Owners who write this way tend to get fewer inquiries per view, and every extra week of vacancy costs real money. On an $1,800 rental, one week empty is about $420.
“On an $1,800 rental, one week empty is about $420.”
Try this instead, swapping in your own details:
That last line matters. Philadelphia’s dense, transit-connected neighborhoods make the nearest stop or line a concrete detail renters care about. Name it. “Convenient location” tells them nothing.
Price it for the market you’re in
You’ll hear “list high and negotiate down.” In a market where renters compare dozens of listings in one session, an overpriced ad doesn’t draw offers to negotiate. It draws silence. Days on market pile up, and sharp renters read that as a sign something is wrong with the unit. Dropping the price later doesn’t fully undo it.
Timing matters too. Leasing here generally runs strongest from roughly April through July, tied to school calendars and post-graduation moves. Outside that window your marketing has to work harder.
Say an owner lists a two-bedroom in West Philadelphia in November, reuses copy from three years ago and prices it at whatever the last tenant paid. Weeks go by with few inquiries. By the time the owner fixes the price and the copy, a month or more of rent is gone. At $1,800, six weeks vacant is around $2,500.
A few rules to price by:
- Check what similar units nearby are asking today, not what they rented for last year.
- In the slower months, price to move, not to test.
- Rewrite the copy every time. Stale boilerplate reads as stale.
Keep the wording legal and welcoming
Fair housing rules cover ad copy, and they cover whoever publishes the ad, including a manager or agent. Anyone reading up on landlord tenant Philadelphia rules will find the city protects more groups than federal law does. The list includes age, ancestry, marital status, gender identity and domestic or sexual violence victim status, among others.
So describe the home. Don’t describe the person you imagine living in it.
| Wording to skip | Why it’s a problem | What to write instead |
|---|---|---|
| “No kids” or “adults only” | Familial status is protected, and here it covers children under 21 and pregnant people | Bedrooms, square footage, layout |
| “Great for students” or “perfect for young professionals” | Describes who should live there, not the unit | Amenities and the nearest transit |
| “No pets, no exceptions” | Assistance animals aren’t pets | “No pets (assistance animals are not pets and are accommodated as the law requires)” |
| “No Section 8” or “no vouchers” | Unlawful source-of-income discrimination here | Leave it out and use criteria that apply to everyone |
Writing “No Section 8” or “no vouchers” in a Philadelphia ad is illegal. The city’s Commission on Human Relations began enforcing the expanded protections on December 4, 2024, and it handles complaints about discriminatory ads.
Screening language needs the same care. If your listing states requirements for credit, rental history or income, they should match your written screening criteria. The city’s Renters’ Access Act sets uniform rules for how rental and credit history are screened. Skip blanket lines like “no evictions” or “no criminal record.” Skip income rules like “3x rent” that ignore voucher income too. Check the current rules before you publish any requirement.
Include the details a careful renter looks for
The renters you want read closely. Give them what they’re checking for:
- Rent and available date: both, near the top.
- Lease length: so nobody wastes a tour.
- What’s included: utilities, laundry, parking, storage.
- Pet policy: with the assistance animal language above.
- Nearest transit: the actual stop or line.
- Screening criteria: written, and the same for every applicant.
- How to tour and apply: one clear path.
- Licensing: make sure the property has the rental license the city requires to rent it out, and check the current rules on when the license must be in place and whether the license number belongs in the ad.
A listing that skips these can make a careful renter wonder if the landlord is operating informally.
This checklist helps you cover every photo, detail, wording choice and showing step so your listing reaches the right renters quickly.
Free checklist
Rental listing checklist
Everything a strong rental listing needs, from photos and wording to where it goes and how showings run, so the right renters find the home quickly.
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Get the home ready
Photos and video
The listing text
Where to list
Showings
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Post it widely and make touring easy
A strong listing in one place is still a quiet listing. We post on our own site and on more than 30 syndicated sites. We’re licensed realtors and members of Bright, the multiple listing service for the Greater Philadelphia area, as well as LoopNet and CoStar. We also push listings through social media, targeted email campaigns, local events and paid advertising.
Then comes the part owners forget. Prospects can book a tour right on the website, and they can apply where they booked. Two in-house leasing agents run those tours. Fewer steps means fewer people who quit halfway.
Speed of reply counts as well. Renters read property management Philadelphia Pennsylvania reviews before they apply, and responsiveness often comes up. One tenant put it this way: “Any question about the lease and about resigning process they are always very prompt with a response.”
That’s the standard a listing sets before the lease even exists.
Read the weekly numbers and change something
Every week we send owners a report showing how many people viewed, toured and applied on their listing. Those three numbers tell you what to fix:
- Few views: check the price against nearby comps, then the headline and first photo.
- Views but few tours: the listing isn’t convincing enough. Rewrite the copy, reshoot the photos or revisit the price.
- Tours but no applications: look at the unit’s condition, the price, and whether your criteria were clear.
- Applications that miss your written criteria: state those criteria more clearly in the ad.
If a listing is a week or two old and the numbers are weak, change something. Waiting rarely fixes it.
A listing isn’t finished when you publish it. Treat the first few weeks as testing, and let the views, tours and applications tell you what to adjust.
What we do and what it costs
Our leasing-only service covers rental listing marketing, showing coordination, lead follow-up, application guidance and lease preparation support. The leasing fee is one month’s rent. For owners who want more, management is a flat fee based on a percentage of monthly rent and includes tenant screening, rent collection, 24/7 maintenance coordination and monthly financial reports.
If getting the right renters through the door feels harder than it should, we’re open to a conversation.
FAQ
How long should a rental listing description be?
Often a few short paragraphs is enough, covering the layout, standout features, what’s included and how to tour. Keep the first two lines strong, since many renters stop reading there.
Should I put the rent in the listing?
Yes. Renters filter by price on most sites, and an ad with no rent gets skipped. It also saves you inquiries from people who can’t afford the unit.
Can I say “no pets” in my listing?
You can state a pet policy, but a flat “no pets” shouldn’t shut out assistance animals. Add a line like “assistance animals are not pets and are accommodated as the law requires.”
Can I write “no Section 8” in a Philadelphia listing?
No. Advertising that housing vouchers can’t be used is unlawful source-of-income discrimination here, and enforcement of the expanded rules began on December 4, 2024.
When is the best time to list a rental in Philadelphia?
Leasing generally peaks from roughly April through July, tied to the academic calendar. A listing that goes live outside that window usually needs stronger photos, copy and pricing to compete.