It’s getting easier and easier to find and accept quality tenants entirely online, but you need to make an awesome listing that attracts the eyes of prospective renters and gets them to send you an message. It’s like Tinder - you’re not gonna make your pictures you on the toilet and your bio isn’t going to include all your worst qualities. An apartment listing should be treated with the same curatorial eye.

For the best results, you should create a listing with great photos, accurate information, and an informative headline. Here’s what you should be sure to do.

Prepare the space

Think about what you’d want to see in a room before living in it. Is there a lot of closet space, a nice tub in the bathroom or a great view from the bedroom window? Showcase the strengths of your apartment. Show common areas as well as the bedrooms.

Clean

For god’s sake, clean the place up a little before you shoot. Make it look as good as it gets. Look at your place as if you’re an interior decorator taking photos. Empty beer on the coffee table? Dust on the mirror? Small things make a difference. Clear off surfaces and pick clutter up off of the floor. Again, think about the best things about your apartment. Do you have great lighting fixtures, a beautiful ceiling, nice carpets, or a huge freakin' closet? Highlight the things you love about your apartment with flattering and attractive apartment photos. If you’ve got a great view from the window of your apartment, take a photo that highlights that and includes the interior of the place.

Take photos

Shoot pictures facing the corner of a room to give subtenants perspective and make the space look as big as it is. Pictures of a wall from straight-on make spaces look darker and smaller. Go for landscape orientation rather than portrait, or vertical. Even better - create wide angle, panoramic or 360 degree photos of your space.

Use the panorama feature in the standard IOS or Android camera app and upload these photos to your advertisement. Take photos of the building interiors and the outside to give renters an idea of the surrounding area. You’d want to see what a neighborhood looks like before moving in, and they will too. If you live in an apartment building, show the lobby or the gym or the roof. Let people viewing your apartment listing imagine themselves in the space, enjoying the amenities your building has to offer. The more pictures you include, the more interest your listing will generate.

Edit photos

Think about editing the photos afterwards to make the colors and light levels true to what you see when you look around your apartment. Smart phone offer filters, brightness and contrast controls in their camera apps. Just don’t go too crazy - no one wants to see your apartment through a sepia filter. Remember, the better the pictures, the more responses you’ll get and the more likely you are to find someone to fill your room. Download some apps for photo editing and experiment with them. It takes a little more time but can make it much easier to get your space rented quickly. Here are some options:

• This wide angle lens app is good for taking photos of small enclosed interiors
• The SKRWT app lets you fix perspective and line alignment issues in your photos.
• Pixlr allows you to make multi-photo collages and even add descriptive text if you want to label rooms in your photos.

Give your listing a title

Advertise your space with a great title for the listing. What are the two best things about your room or apartment? Lead with them in a concise phrase. Here are some examples of titles that we’ve seen do well:

• Giant Bedroom Steps From the L Train
• Sunny Room with Private Bathroom
• Cozy Room with Huge Closets and Cool Roommates

Notice that these titles all highlight at least two of the room’s best features.

Write a detailed description

Be thorough. Let the potential tenant know everything about your space. If there are roommates, what are they like? How much time do they spend at home and what do they like to do there? Are there any pets? Is there in-unit laundry? Great restaurants in the neighborhood? Think about what you love about your place and list it. Include the pros and cons of your apartment. Subtenants should know what they’re getting themselves into, even if there’s sometimes construction noise outside from time to time.

Give accurate information

Since many Caretaker users search based on specific criteria, like price, length of availability, or neighborhood, it’s super important to correctly categorize the listing. Make sure that the rent amount, type of listing (entire place or private room), and location are all correct.

Respond to messages

A listing on Caretaker will show how long it’s been since you were last active on the website. A potential tenant may choose not to message you if your account appears inactive - so make sure to login regularly and respond promptly to any inquiries.

Share your listing

Once you’ve made a dope advertisement for your space, share it on social media! You can DM us on Instagram if you’d like us to share it for you, or tag us on Twitter @livewithflip and we’ll share it there too!