List a unit for rent

Who this is for

Landlords and property managers with a vacant unit. Any member of your account can write a listing and add photos. Only an account owner can publish, unpublish or delete a listing, and switch listing sites on or off.

Before you start

• Add the property and its units. See Add properties and units.
• The property needs a street address, city, state and ZIP code, checked with USPS on the property page.
• Add a lead email and a business phone in Settings, on the Company tab. Renters see the phone on the public page.
• Have at least one photo: JPEG, PNG or WebP, up to 10 MB each.

Steps

1. Go to Leasing → Listings. Every unit that isn't occupied has a row. Click Create listing on the unit. It starts as a Draft, with the unit's rent filled in.
2. Under Description, write a Headline and a Description of at least 50 characters, and pick the Property type. A Virtual tour link is optional.
3. Under Rent and fees, check Rent / month ($) and fill in Available on (leave it empty for "Now"), Application fee ($) and Security deposit ($). Listing rent is what you advertise; it doesn't change the unit's rent or any lease.
4. Under The unit, fill in Bedrooms, Bathrooms and Square feet. These are saved on the unit, so the property page shows them too.
5. Under Terms, pick the Lease terms, Pets and Utilities included. Switch on Hide the street address if you don't want it shown. Tick the Amenities that apply.
6. Under Photos, click Add photos. Up to 25. Drag to reorder; the first is the Cover.
7. Click Save. The Ready to publish? card lists anything still missing.
8. An account owner clicks Publish. On the Listings screen, View public page opens the page renters see.
9. To send your listings to listing sites, an account owner opens Settings → Listing sites and switches on Apartments.com, Dwellsy or both.

Example

Lena Park lists Unit 3 at 40 Cedar Street, Palm Bay. She writes the headline "Sunny 2-bed near the park", a 300-character description, sets rent to $1,450.00, the security deposit to $1,450.00 and the application fee to $45.00, and adds 8 photos. The checklist says the address hasn't been checked with USPS, so she checks it on the property page and USPS has it as she typed it. She clicks Publish and sees "Published."

A renter, Omar Velez, finds the page, fills in the contact form and clicks Send message. A new lead appears on the Leads screen with Source "Listing page", and Lena gets an email titled "New Lead: Omar Velez".

What happens next

• The public page shows the photos, rent, bedrooms, bathrooms, size, availability, deposit, application fee, description, amenities, lease terms and pets, your company name, logo and phone. With the street address hidden, it still shows the city, state and ZIP code.
• Renters can ask a question or apply from the page. A message becomes a lead; Apply emails the renter a private link to the application. See Applications.
• The new-lead email goes to one account owner's email address, not to every owner and not to the lead email in Settings.
• Listing sites get every published listing, with your company name, lead email and phone. A change reaches a site's feed within about 15 minutes, and then whenever that site next reads it. Listings with a hidden address are not sent to Dwellsy, or to Apartments.com for buildings with 5 or more units.
• A listing site shows your listings only after it accepts eSamaHomes' feed. Each site decides when it starts showing listings from eSamaHomes. Switching a site on sends your listings to it; they appear on the site once it has accepted the feed. Contact support to check a site's status.
• A listing comes down by itself when the unit is rented (a lease starts, or the unit is marked occupied) and when the property is archived. A listing taken down stays in the site feeds marked inactive, so the sites take it down too.
• To change a live listing, edit it and click Save. A change that would break a publishing rule isn't saved, and the live listing keeps showing the last saved version.

If something looks wrong

• "Not published yet. Fix the items in the checklist." The Ready to publish? card lists what is missing:

• "The address isn't in USPS's form" or "USPS doesn't know this address." These are warnings. The listing still publishes, but listing sites may reject it.
• "Photos must be JPEG, PNG or WebP." iPhone HEIC photos aren't accepted. Save the photo as a JPEG and try again.
• The public page says the listing isn't available. The listing is unpublished, the unit is occupied, or your account is locked or canceled. While the account is locked, the listing still reads Published on the Listings screen but isn't shown to anyone.
• You can't see Publish or Unpublish. Only an account owner can publish, unpublish or delete.
• You want it on Facebook. See Post a listing on Facebook.
• Your listing isn't on Apartments.com or Dwellsy. The site may not have accepted eSamaHomes' feed yet, or hasn't read it since your change. Contact support.