How to list your house and actually get calls
For landlords. Why most listings fail, what a good one looks like, and the specific things that make the phone ring.
For landlords. Why most listings fail, what a good one looks like, and the specific things that make the phone ring.
An empty house is not waiting. It is losing you money every week, and that money does not come back. A house at 55,000 francs standing empty for nine weeks has cost you about 114,000 francs that no future tenant will ever repay.
Most listings fail for reasons that are entirely fixable.
Why listings fail
- Photographs taken at night, or with a flash, or of one corner of one room
- No price, or 'price negotiable' with no starting figure
- No indication of where the house actually is
- A description that says 'nice house' and nothing else
- Posted once, in one group, and never again
- No response when someone finally calls
What a listing that works looks like
Three things do most of the work: honest photographs, a clear price, and a findable location.
- Twelve or more photographs, in daylight, no flash
- Every room, in order: outside, sitting room, each bedroom, kitchen, bathroom, compound
- The tap, running. This single photograph answers the question everyone asks first.
- The gate from the road, so people can find it
- A clear monthly rent and the advance you expect
- What is included — water, whether the compound is guarded, parking
Houses photographed properly get substantially more enquiries than the same house photographed badly. It is the cheapest improvement available to you.
Price it against reality, not hope
The commonest mistake is pricing against what you wish the house were worth. A house priced 15,000 above the quarter's going rate does not eventually find someone willing to pay more — it sits empty for two extra months and then rents at the market rate anyway, having cost you 130,000 in lost rent.
Answer the phone
This sounds obvious. It is also the most common failure we see. A tenant who cannot reach you calls the next landlord. If you cannot answer during the day, appoint a caretaker and let them handle enquiries — that is precisely what caretakers are for.
Switch it off when it goes
Leaving a taken house listed wastes everyone's time and damages your reputation with the next person who calls. On Nkwata you pay only while a listing is live, so switching it off the day it goes saves you money as well.
The first 48 hours decide everything
A new listing gets most of its attention in the first two days, because that is when everyone currently searching sees it for the first time. After that it competes only with new arrivals to the market.
- Have all your photographs ready before you list, not after.
- List in the morning, not late at night.
- Answer every call that day, even briefly.
- If you get no calls in 48 hours, the problem is the price or the photographs. Change one and relist.
What to do when the calls come
Landlords lose good tenants at this stage more often than at any other.
- Answer, or call back within the hour. Tenants call three landlords and take the one who responds.
- Have the details ready: rent, advance, what is included, when they can view.
- Offer a specific viewing time rather than 'come anytime'. Vagueness loses people.
- Group viewings into one afternoon. It saves you time and it creates useful competition.
- If someone says they will take it, agree in writing what holds it — and do not take a holding fee.
Choosing between tenants
If you are fortunate enough to have a choice, the things that actually predict a good tenancy are unglamorous:
- Can they pay now, without a story?
- Did they ask sensible questions about the house?
- Will they sign a written agreement?
- How did their last landlord speak about them?
- Do they seem likely to stay? Turnover costs you more than a small rent difference.
Do not screen on tribe, region or religion. Beyond being wrong, it shrinks your pool, costs you money, and word travels quickly in a city this size.
Pricing: the arithmetic most landlords skip
Suppose the going rate in your quarter is 55,000 and you list at 70,000 because the house is nicer.
| Scenario | Outcome over 12 months |
|---|---|
| Listed at 55,000, taken in 2 weeks | 55,000 × 11.5 = 632,500 |
| Listed at 70,000, taken in month 4 | 70,000 × 8 = 560,000 |
| Listed at 62,000, taken in month 1 | 62,000 × 11 = 682,000 |
The middle option, which feels like the ambitious one, earns the least. The winning strategy is usually a modest premium that still lets the house go quickly.
Every empty week costs you about a quarter of a month's rent. Two months empty to gain 10,000 a month takes eleven months just to break even — and that assumes you get the higher rent at all.
Keeping a good tenant once you have one
Turnover is the most expensive thing in this business. An empty month, new photographs, viewings, and the risk of someone worse. Keeping a reliable tenant is worth more than any rent increase.
- Fix things when they are reported, and quickly
- Give notice of any rent increase well ahead, and keep it modest
- Respect their privacy — do not arrive unannounced
- Return calls
- If they have paid on time for a year, tell them you appreciate it. It costs nothing.
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