You post the rental. The phone lights up. Then you spend two weeks answering questions the listing should have answered, sitting through showings with people who can't qualify, and wondering why the strong applicants never showed up.
This post is for owners who want fewer wasted showings and faster leases. Maybe you have one rental you're renting out for the first time, or a handful of doors you've run yourself for years. We manage rentals across Richmond, Henrico, Chesterfield, and Hanover counties, so some examples lean local. The approach works anywhere. Below you'll find what to put in a listing, what to leave out, and the Virginia ad rules that catch well-meaning owners off guard.
“$1,000–$2,500 | typical cost of one extra vacant month”
In This Guide
A Listing Is a Filter, Not a Billboard
Most owners write a listing to get more inquiries. That's the wrong goal. A listing should get the right inquiries, from people who've read the details and still want the place.
"Quality tenant" means a qualified applicant who fits this specific unit. It does not mean a certain type of person, and in Virginia you can't write it that way (more on that below).
Conventional advice says to cram in every feature. We disagree. More detail isn't always better, but vagueness is always worse. The details worth including are the ones that filter, like pet policy, parking, lease term, and occupancy limit.
Picture a landlord who writes an honest, detailed listing. Accurate square footage, a clear pet policy, photos taken after a fresh clean, and specifics on commuter routes. They get fewer total inquiries than the neighbor down the street. But a higher share of those turn into applications, because applicants already screened themselves against the listing.
Write for the Submarket You're In
Greater Richmond isn't one rental market. It's a bunch of small ones with different tenant pools. Metro Richmond properties in the Fan compete on different signals than a townhome in Midlothian.
| Submarket | What applicants tend to care about | Lead with |
|---|---|---|
| The Fan, Carytown, Scott's Addition | Walkability, character, restaurants nearby | Original details, walk-to spots, parking situation |
| Church Hill, Jackson Ward, Manchester | Transit, walkability, parking | Exact parking details, transit access |
| Short Pump, Innsbrook, Glen Allen | Space, schools, commute | Square footage, highway access, nearby employers |
| Midlothian, North Chesterfield | Space, yard, schools | Yard, layout, school zone, commute routes |
Say an owner lists a Short Pump home with a generic description that could fit any suburb. A competing unit nearby names Innsbrook employers, Short Pump Town Center, and the exact highway access. In that example the competing unit leases in 12 days and the generic one sits for six weeks. That's an illustration, but it matches what we'd expect.
In the urban core, parking is where listings go wrong. Leave it out and every applicant asks, or worse, shows up assuming there's a driveway. Say whether it's a dedicated spot, a lot, or street parking.
Photos and Honest Descriptions
Photos
Widely cited real estate marketing research suggests listings with weak photos can lose roughly 30 to 50 percent of their clicks. Those clicks were your best applicants, because people with options skip ugly listings first.
- Shoot after turnover is done: Clean floors, clear counters, nothing left behind.
- Use daylight: Open the blinds. Winter dusk makes every unit look sad.
- Cover every room: Include the exterior, the yard, and the parking spot or street.
- Shoot wide, not tight: Applicants want to see the layout, not a close-up of a faucet.
Description
Use the real square footage. Call a bedroom a bedroom only if it is one. If there's a known issue like an older HVAC unit, a shared driveway, or a flood-prone basement, deal with it honestly. Virginia has rules about disclosing certain known conditions to tenants, so check the current requirements. Hiding a problem in the listing just moves it to the lease signing, when it costs more.
Details That Filter Applicants
These are the lines that save you showings. Put them near the top, not buried in a paragraph.
- Pets: We're generally pet-friendly and work with owners to allow pets whenever possible. We screen pets as part of the application, and some animals get case-by-case review. If an HOA, insurance policy, or community rule limits pets, say so in the listing.
- Assistance animals: In Virginia, these aren't pets and don't need training or certification. A "no pets" line should never read as excluding them.
- Parking: Spot, lot, garage, or street. Numbers and rules if they apply.
- Lease term: Twelve months, or flexible? Say it.
- Occupancy limit: You can set a limit based on bedrooms and unit size. You cannot restrict who the occupants are.
- Utilities: Which ones the tenant pays.
- Available date: A real move-in date, not "soon."
For owners nervous about pets, we offer a Pet Guarantee for extra protection. It lets us say yes more often without leaving you exposed.
Words That Break Fair Housing Rules
This is the section most owners skip. Don't.
Virginia law bars any rental ad, notice, or statement that shows a preference, limitation, or discrimination based on race, color, religion, national origin, sex, elderliness, familial status, source of funds, sexual orientation, gender identity, military status, or disability. That covers headlines, photo captions, and posted signs too.
| Skip this | Say this instead |
|---|---|
| "Perfect for young professionals" or "great for singles" | Describe the unit and the commute |
| "No kids" or "adults only" | Occupancy limit based on bedrooms and unit size |
| "No Section 8" or "no vouchers" | Leave source of funds out of the ad entirely |
| Flat "No pets" | "Pets considered with screening. Assistance animals handled separately." |
| "Mature couple preferred" or "English speakers" | Delete it. State rent, size, and lease term. |
"Source of funds" covers any lawful source of rent money, including vouchers. Virginia has a narrow exemption for owners with four or fewer rental units. It's unclear whether that exemption covers an ad that says "no vouchers," so we don't write it, and we'd talk to an attorney before anyone does.
Keep your criteria tied to the property and to objective standards you apply to every applicant. Occupancy limits, income standards, and screening results apply equally. Descriptions of who "fits" do not.
Money Lines You Can and Can't Advertise
If your listing mentions fees, deposits, or payment options, it has to match Virginia law. These are the current rules.
- Application fee: No more than application fee at $50 plus the landlord's actual out-of-pocket cost for background, credit, or similar checks. For HUD-regulated units, the cap is $32 plus those costs.
- Security deposit: Don't advertise more than deposit more than two months rent.
- Late fees: If you mention them, the fee must be in the written lease and can't exceed the lesser of 10% of the periodic rent or 10% of the remaining balance.
- Payment methods: Since July 1, 2026, landlords must accept rent and deposits by check and money order. Don't advertise card-only or portal-only payment. A processing fee can't exceed the actual third-party cost, and you can't charge one without offering a fee-free option.
Starting July 1, 2027, landlords must tell applicants about fees, deposits, and tenant selection criteria before collecting any payment or information. That isn't current law yet. But posting your criteria and fee details now is a good habit, and it stops arguments before they start.
Price It Right and Post It at the Right Time
Pricing is part of the listing. Overprice and you get few applicants. Underprice and you leave rent on the table every month.
Vacancy is expensive. A well-marketed rental in this area typically sits somewhere between two and four weeks before qualified applications come in. One extra vacant month often costs a single-family owner roughly $1,000 to $2,500 in lost rent, utilities, and carrying costs.
Say your rent is $1,800 and the unit sits empty for six weeks. That's about $2,700 gone. Our management fee is 8% a month, so a vacant unit doesn't pay either of us. We also charge a 50% leasing fee that's earned when we place a qualified tenant, so a listing that converts matters to us as much as it does to you.
Timing helps too. Demand around Richmond peaks from April through July, when VCU, University of Richmond, and Virginia Union renters and corporate relocations drive more traffic. Outside that window, plan on sharper pricing and stronger presentation.
Then there's the stale listing. Say an owner copies a three-year-old ad, bumps the rent by $50, and reposts it with blurry winter phone photos. They'll get inquiries, but mostly from people who couldn't qualify elsewhere. The listing tells applicants nobody's paying attention.
A Quick Pre-Publish Checklist
Run through this before you hit post.
- Photos: Taken after the clean, in daylight, with every room covered.
- Facts: Square footage, bedrooms, and baths all verified.
- Filters: Pets, parking, lease term, occupancy limit, and utilities stated.
- Money: Rent, deposit, and application fee match Virginia's limits.
- Language: Nothing about who should or shouldn't apply.
- Submarket: At least two details that matter to that specific neighborhood.
- Known issues: Anything that needs disclosing is handled honestly.
How We Approach Listings at PMI James River
We run PMI rental management as a local, independent office with a national network behind it. That network gives us tested listing templates from 400+ offices. We then rewrite them for the neighborhood, because a template won't know the difference between the Fan and Short Pump.
Johnny Wilson, our owner, came to this business through real estate investing and a background managing complex scientific projects. So we treat a listing like an investment decision. We look at how long a unit sits, what kinds of inquiries come in, and what that says about the pricing and the copy. Rentvine, our management platform, supports our marketing workflow and applicant tracking so every lead lands in one place.
We also set expectations before the lease starts. Residents reach us through the portal, email, phone, or text, and we aim to respond to routine maintenance requests within about a day. That's a promise worth putting in a listing.
A vendor who works with many property managers put it this way in a review: he knows properties will be cared for "from tenant selection to care of the property and my investment." That's the idea. Care starts with the listing. One out-of-state owner wrote, "As I am out of state, my property is not a headache." We'd like to earn that for every owner.
If getting the right applicants into your rental feels harder than it should, we're open to a conversation. We also offer a free rental analysis.
FAQ
Should I put the rent price in the listing?
Yes. Applicants filter by price first, so leaving it out mostly attracts browsers who'll back out once they hear the number.
Can I say "no Section 8" in my listing?
We don't, and we'd advise against it. Source of funds is a protected class in Virginia, and the small-owner exemption isn't clearly settled for advertising. Leave it out and check with an attorney if you have questions.
Can I write "no pets" in my listing?
You can state a pet policy, but assistance animals are not pets under Virginia law and don't need training or certification. Word your policy so it doesn't suggest they're excluded.
Should I list my screening criteria in the ad?
It's smart, and it saves everyone time. Virginia will require landlords to give applicants notice of fees and selection criteria before collecting payment or information starting July 1, 2027. Today it's a best practice, not a requirement.
What's the most I can charge for an application fee?
Virginia caps the application fee at $50 plus the landlord's actual out-of-pocket cost for background, credit, or similar checks. For HUD-regulated units, the cap is $32 plus those costs.
