8 websites to list your property rental advert for free
(Article updated March 2022)
You will need:
a. An idea of what to say in your advert, and the amount you want to ask for rent, or sale
b. Pictures of the property 5 – 10 are a good number. Properties with pictures get more views and responses.
I did a test and put the same rental property advert in the first two websites for free for two days. I’ve listed the stats for the respective websites. And yes, this was an actual property we needed to rent out and I found a tenant in two days.
1. Privateproperty.co.za
When advertising a house or cottage rental for free, this website easily generates the most responses. I found that when placing a property rental advert with a cottage, it did not get as many results, so it was most successful when advertising a house rental. In my experience, they delete the telephone number if you’ve written it in your ad, so make sure the telephone numbers are correct when you set up your profile and ad. Your ad is active for 3 months
Limitations: You can only list one rental advert every 3 months if you are advertising for free. It costs R295 per additional advert added. So for real estate agents, you would need the paid option. To list a house for sale, there is a cost, the least expensive option being R995.
(stats in 2 day test: 233 ad views 71 telephone number requests 5 emails)
2. Gumtree.co.za
I found this the next most successful site when advertising a cottage or house to rent. You can also advertise rooms to let and house shares, and house sales. If you have more than one property to rent at the same time, you can post additional ads here no problem (but not duplicate ads for the same thing). The ad stays active for 30 days and gets automatically deactivated. If you are still trying to find a tenant, you can reactivate your ad. They send an e-mail reminder to do so, but don’t leave it too long, as after a certain amount of days, they delete the advert altogether.
Limitations: You can only post the same ad once. As there are many adverts and your ad may fall quickly to the lower pages and then after a week, not get seen. A work around to this is to delete your original ad and then repost the ad, although this is time consuming.
(stats in 2 day test: 154 ad views 4 telephone number requests 1 email. Although telephone number was visible in the advert, unlike the above website)
3. Rentbay.co.za
RentBay was created by TPN, they offer free ads for rentals and property selling. The website is easy to use. They only offer adverts for properties, so while they may not seem as busy as OLX and Gumtree, they offer other items for sale, whereas Rentbay specialises in property. The TPN site is also worth a mention, in that they offer credit checks on tenants.
Limitations: I don’t recall any, I have only listed rentals.
4. Locanto.co.za
Another useful website that you can list your property on. The site is sometimes a bit difficult to work out what they want, but it is workable.
Limitations: I don’t recall any.
5. Gotproperty.co.za
This website is created by junk mail. You can list a property rental advert and property sales ads. I have noticed that you will get a lot of spam if you advertise with them, even after you’ve deleted your advert. I even got a phone call from one of their staff to ask me to take a paid option, which I declined.
Limitations: I don’t recall any.
6. Facebook.com
One way you can advertise on Facebook, is to put your ad in their Market Place. Another idea is to join several groups in your area, then share your advert on those groups. If you have a company page, you can even join some groups as your page, which has a few benefits. You can write the advert on your page and then share it onto your groups from there.
Limitations: Do not join too many groups in one day (Facebook will stop you, or suspend your account). Do not share the advert too many times in one day (I think 20 or 25 is OK). If you have more groups, just share to the rest of the groups the next day – but you will have to keep track. Most groups only allow one post per day. Some groups only allow one post per week. Check the rules for the groups you join.
7. Junkmail.co.za
This is another free listing website, although I have noticed that there is no need to list here – if you list on “GotProperty” (#5 above). They will automatically put your ad on Junkmail for you.
Paid Property Rental Advert Options
Here are some paid options worth mentioning. (Where possible, I’ve given the amount mentioned on their website at the time of writing, January 2020)
1. Caxton
This is not a website – but the weekly local newspaper circulated in Gauteng. It costs about R300-R400 to place a short ad in their classified section. Find your copy of the local newspaper and the telephone number to use should be printed in the classified section. The East Rand publications telephone number is 011 916 5300.
2. Property24.com
They do have an option to privately list your property rental advert for a cost of R395 (self service) to advertise for 3 months. They are a very busy website and only list properties. It seems if you advertise with them, it also links through to several other property rental advert listing websites. You can also list a property for sale.
3. iolproperty.co.za
This website is linked to The Star newspaper. They offer for sale ads and to let property rental advert. Their cheapest options are: To let (rental) R350 per ad, and for sale R1250 per ad.
4. Myproperty.co.za
This is quite a specialised property advert website in that it seems primarily set up for real estate agents using certain programmes. This is the information we found on their website:
We provide various ways to advertise your listing mandates on MyProperty, if you are a Real Estate Professional in possession of a valid EAAB Fidelity Fund Certificate.
Only via: Base real estate crm platform – If you only want to advertise on MyProperty, you can use Base for a special monthly fee of R499 for unlimited listings and users for an office.
Or: Sync portal syndication – A fee of R99/month per 50 listings
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