Best Ways to Show Off Your Sublet

By Kaitlin Hurtado on September 13, 2017

In college, subleasing your housing for a set period of time can be life-saving (it is what can save you from making two rent payments if lease periods end up overlapping).

Your reasons for subleasing may vary. You may be studying abroad for a semester or spending summer/winter break back home. You may have started another June lease for next year’s housing, but have your current lease until September. Instead of turning different opportunities into financial burdens when you have to pay for space you aren’t even living in, your best bet is often subleasing and getting money in return.

Trying to find a subtenant may be one of the easiest or hardest experiences you’ll face depending on the circumstances and your luck, but read on to find out the best ways to show off your sublet to quickly find a subtenant.

Image via pexels.com

Post listings online

You may try your luck by posting flyers around campus, but when people are in a rush, the last place they are going to look for a sublet is flyers around campus or town. Students often search social media for listings on potential housing. Sites like Uloop and Facebook make it easy to post your sublet to the internet, pairing it with your contact information, the housing’s description, and pictures.

Posting your listings online makes them searchable and easy to sort with keywords. If you post on Facebook pages affiliated with your campus, you will have better chances of connecting with potential subtenants. You are able to narrow down your potential subtenants (if you’re hoping to sublet to college students, you should post on a Facebook page with college students).

Be descriptive and clear when it comes to your apartment and what it offers

When you want to advertise your living space to potential subtenants, always be as descriptive as possible. If you leave the description off as “Double room with shared bathroom,” nothing about your description will make it stand apart from other sublet listings.

Describe what the room may come with — central air conditioning, furniture, good natural lighting. Highlight what makes your sublet stand apart from other listings. Add if the subtenant has the ability to recruit their own roommate or if their roommate/housemates are already decided for them.

Always try to post pictures when you can. By pictures, don’t try to just post pictures that anyone can find posted on your housing community’s website, which is full of model homes that are often nowhere near what your apartment will look like when the subtenant actually sees them. Post personal pictures of your own space so potential subtenants can get a good idea of what they are getting into, and it may even help attract them and seal the deal if the pictures really wow them.

State that you are willing to negotiate, if you are

One of the most important aspects of your listing will be the price and the term of the sublease. While you do want to lose the least amount of money possible, you still may want to drop your price if it means you can secure a subtenant. Post the price you actually want to sublease your space for, but then state that you are willing to negotiate.

By stating that you are willing to negotiate when it comes to the sublease price or term, you may attract other potential subtenants that would not bother to contact you if not for the option of negotiating a price or sublease term that will suit them better than the one listed.

When it comes to the term of your sublet, list the entire term you are looking for (like the entire summer), but be ready to negotiate it for a few weeks or the duration of summer school. It may not be the entire term you want to sublease for, but getting some money is better than none if you aren’t even going to be making full use of the living space.

Timing is everything 

You may think you have the perfect space to sublease, but you may not find a subtenant depending on the timing of your listing. If you wait until the last possible moment to sublease, you may find that finding your subtenant for the price you want is near impossible. Subtenants know that it is last minute and that subletters are getting more and more desperate to at least get some money back.

Post when you are sure you are going to sublet your apartment. Posting it early means you have time to make negotiations, post your listings on several sites, and make necessary changes to posting as need be. You also will have the opportunity to space out several postings on the same page without spamming, constantly making your listing “fresh” and easier to find a subtenant.

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