So you've got a property, and you want to rent it out to someone. There are plenty of articles out there covering everything you need to do to get set up for it, but what about the most important part of renting? The most fundamental, essential part, without which renting is completely impossible? Take a guess, what do you think it is.

Chances are, if you've stopped to think about it, you've probably come up with a lot of different things. Maybe you've thought about getting the property ready for renters, and making sure the building itself is up to scratch. This is undeniably important, as there is no point in trying to let something that nobody wants.

Or maybe you're thinking about the legal side of things. For example, preparing a good application form, that includes everything you need to know. Deciding how you are going to pick which tenants to allow in, and how to arrange for payments and deposits. You'll need to put together a comprehensive business plan, and ensure that everything you are going to do is planned out and clear in your mind.

Maybe you think the most important thing is deciding how you are going to run your business, for example, your rules on subletting or allowing pets. Or, more important then this, making sure that you have some leeway in your plans for the totally unexpected. You just know that something will come up, that you never even considered. Still not the most important thing though.

The most important, and overlooked, part of letting a property is very simple- finding someone to rent it! You've got a building, and set it all up ready for people to move in, with a detailed business plan, and then you suddenly find that it's all useless because no-one is interested. So what are you going to do?

So the first thing that you need to do, is to get the word out. "Build it and they will come" may have worked in the past, but it is certainly no longer applicable. You need to think of some way to advertise, so let's take a look at a few ways to go about it.

Notices. Posters. Billboards. Any other physical sign. This works well if you're looking for people from a specific area, for example if you want to rent to students, you can post notices around local campuses. However, it is also expensive, and the results are rarely as good as you would like.

Papers. A much better idea, you can post in your local freeads or similar paper. They'll often allow you to place your ads for free, or very little at least, and you can reach a large number of people. Still, it is far from the most effective or efficient system, so maybe use it in addition to others.

Television and radio. It's a nice idea, but is significantly more expensive, and actually less effective, then the physical notices. The only benefit is that it reaches a far larger audience, but practically speaking it's not a real consideration.

The internet. Now you're talking. Everyone uses the internet, so you've got a huge audience, and more then that it's targeted. You know, if someone is looking at a rental site, that they are interested in renting something- so you'll get a much better response from this then from anything else. Of course, you still have to find the right site.

There are a lot of different places to post online, as a simple search on google will show. But with so many to choose from, how do you know which to pick? Well, take a look at some of them. You want a page that looks good, that is, it's clear and easy to use. If it's not, visitors won't bother with it. Also, look at the number of properties being offered currently. If there are a lot, then you'll have a lot of competition, but if there are very few then it's probably not a popular site.

In the end, as you are looking through all these sites, you'll probably notice that there is something similar about all of them: they are charging you to post on them. As wonderful as the internet undoubtedly is, you may think twice about using it when you see what is charged. I know I did. However, you now have another option- free sites. Only occurring recently, there are a small number of excellent websites that actually offer their services completely free.

To give you an example, you can have a look at localets.co.uk. An extremely well designed site, it has everything you may want, as well as being totally free. Who says that advertising must be costly? The prices I've seen in some places are outrageous. Take the time to find a few sites like this one, and sign u to all of them. Perhaps you will sign up to a few of the bigger sites, if you really want to, but make sure you take advantage of all the free help you can find.

Well, that's it. The most essential part of renting your property is finding someone to rent it, and the best way to do that is over the internet. So why are still here? Go and get on with it!

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Paul Fogarty is an expert at renting property in london. Click here to visit his flats to rent site.