Making your rental property more appealing to families

[paolo]

Make your property family-friendly

By making your property ‘family-friendly’, you’ll reach a big and eager audience. And remember, children under 5 aren’t restricted to school holidays but can travel year-round – their parents will be keen to book outside of school holidays too.

Here is a check-list of items that a family with one or more toddlers would be delighted not to have to bring with them. Travelling with toddlers is quite an operation – the more of these you can offer, the likelier you are to appeal to a young family.

Must-haves for a toddler-friendly home:
• High chair(s)
• Stair gates (at top and bottom)
• Cot(s) – can be folding travel cots
• Microwave

Good to have:
• Electric bottle sterilizer
• Bottle warmer
• Plastic beakers, plates and spoons
• Baby monitor (a one-way radio from their bedroom)
• Bouncy chair
• Potty
• Changing Table
• Toilet trainer seat and step (to reach sink)
• A big plastic box full of toys: Lego, model cars, plastic animals, railway track, dolls, books. These don’t need to be new, or complete, or even in working order. Children are more excited by these than their own toys at home.

Every day, families are discarding baby and toddler equipment as their children outgrow them, so it’s easy to get hold of second-hand equipment at very good prices. Try car boot sales, jumble sales, garage sales, classified ads, ebay, etc.

What do you do to appeal to families?

[tansy]

That is so useful - thank you...one question in today's world are Mum's cool about 2nd hand toys?

I have
stair guards
toilet trainer
changing mat
Cots
highchairs
bottle sterilizer
videos for children
buckets & spades for the beach

what is a bouncy chair? (sorry no kids)

[Ju]

A boucy chair is a small chair for little babies, usually used until they are big enough to go into a high chair. Most people would have a car seat which could be used instead so it's not really essential.

As a parent I have no problems with second hand toys as long as they are clean and not broken. Stick to the better quality stuff like fisher price and it will last for years.

Ju

[paolo]

Yes, I'm not sure bouncy chair is the right term (my wife put the list together). It's for babies who can't sit up on their own, and the back goes from flat for sleeping, to straight for sitting. As Ju says, it's not essential, but it shows willing.

Toys - as long as they are not dangerous, any old tat is appealing to toddlers.