In this article, we will guide you through all the steps of creating a listing on Wunderflats and at the end we will summarize the most important tips for a perfect listing in a checklist for you.
- What are the advantages of a professional listing?
- What should I prepare for the creation of my listing?
- The Wunderflats listing creation step by step
- How do I publish my listing?
- What happens after the listing is published?
- Checklist for your perfect listing
What are the advantages of a professional listing?
The aim of a listing is to arouse the interest of future tenants in the apartment. At the same time you should provide them with all the information they need to envisage the apartment as their new home. The most important thing is to create a realistic picture of the apartment. Therefore, the listing text should be detailed and informative, and a large number of relevant photos should be added to the listing. Good quality photos and descriptive text that contains all the important information will increase the attractiveness of the apartment and increase the number, as well as the quality, of requests for bookings. If you receive a lot of requests, you can choose the right tenant for your apartment, such as someone with or without a pet. You will also significantly reduce the length of vacancy of your apartment.
What should I prepare for the creation of my listing?
In order to create your listing quickly and easily, there are a few things you can already do to prepare it:
- Calculate a reasonable monthly all-inclusive rent.
- Create a floor plan of the apartment in one of the following file formats: .png, .pdf or .jpg.
- Ensure that there are enough high-quality photos of the apartment, or make an appointment with us for a professional shoot of your apartment.
- Think of a meaningful title for your listing that perfectly describes your temporary home, such as “Cosy 3-bedroom apartment in a quiet location with 2 balconies” or “Wheelchair accessible apartment with 2 bedrooms in Schöneberg”.
- Write a template for your listing text in both German and English.
- Have the energy performance certificate ready or apply for it if necessary.
- Think about availability periods for your apartment. Your apartment should be available for at least one month.
Now you can start creating your listing. We recommend that you first create an account on our website. Then start the process of creating your listing by clicking on get started.
The Wunderflats listing creation step by step
With us, you can easily create a listing for your temporary furnished apartment online. The creation and publication of your listing are free of charge.
Below, we will guide you through all the steps of creating a listing so that you can publish a professional and successful apartment listing in no time at all.
1. Enter the address of the apartment
The first step in creating a listing is to enter the address of your apartment: the street and house number as well as the postcode. The location of your apartment will be shown on a map after the listing has been published. Future tenants will get a good idea of the location of your apartment. However, the exact address of your apartment will not be published in the listing but will be mentioned in the rental agreement.
2. Type of the apartment
Choose whether you want to list a single fully furnished apartment or create an apartment group. An apartment group includes several apartments with similar characteristics.
3. General information about the apartment
Please enter basic information about your apartment, such as the size and the maximum number of tenants. With regard to the minimum rental period, the shorter the period, the lower the vacancy rate. Nevertheless, your apartment must be available for at least one month. We also recommend that you familiarise yourself with the regulations in place in your city regarding the misuse of an apartment. For example in some German cities, apartments must be available for up to six months in order to avoid falling under the ban on misuse. You can find detailed information on this in our article An overview of the misuse of residential space in Germany.
Give more detailed information about the rooms in your apartment. How many rooms are there and what sleeping arrangements are available?
4. Information about essential services
Some basic services are essential for a successful rental. You can provide information about these services here:
Wi-Fi:
Here you should indicate the speed of the internet connection. This is important information for many tenants, especially if they work from home. The speed of the internet connection is important information for many tenants, especially if they work from home.
Confirmation of residence (Wohnungsgeberbestätigung):
As a landlord/-lady in Germany, you are obliged to issue a confirmation of residence (Wohnungsgeberbestätigung), as your tenants need this document to register their address. You can find more detailed information on this document here.
Washing Machine:
For washing machines and dryers, you can also indicate whether they are located in the apartment, in the building or nearby.
Energy performance certificate:
As a landlord/-lady in Germany and Austria, you are obliged to provide information about the energy efficiency of your apartment. If you already have an energy performance certificate for the apartment, you can easily transfer the information. You can select from a list what type of energy performance certificate it is, what the energy consumption rating is and what energy efficiency class your apartment has been classified in. If you do not yet have an energy performance certificate, you can apply for one and add the information to the listing at a later date. For some buildings, however, an energy performance certificate is not necessary; you can also indicate this.
In France, landlords/-ladies must provide potential tenants with an Energy Performance Certificate (DPE), also known as a “Diagnostic de Performance Energétique”, before signing a rental agreement. All residential properties rented for more than 4 months require a DPE, regardless of size or location. Certified diagnosticians accredited by COFRAC (find them on their website) will conduct the assessment. The DPE should be included in the Technical Diagnosis File (DDT) and transmitted to the tenant. Since January 2023, stricter rules have applied to energy inefficient rentals in France: Rent increases and surcharges will be prohibited for properties rated F or G. From 1 January 2025, G+ properties cannot be rented for residential use.
5. Details of the amenities
For each room in your apartment, indicate here what amenities are available. By specifying these, we can place your listing in the Collections on our website, making it faster and easier to find the perfect tenant for you. In the Collections, we group together apartments with certain features, making them easier to find for tenants, such as apartments with balconies or pet-friendly apartments. It also makes your apartment appear to tenants who use filters to search for apartments.
6. Add photos and choose cover photo
This is where you upload compelling photos of the apartment and each of its rooms. We recommend at least ten high-quality photos and at least one photo of each room. This will help potential tenants visualize what the apartment will look like and whether they would like to live there. The ideal photo size is 1200×1800 pixels and should not exceed 25 MB. Choose photos in landscape format. Ideally, you can also upload a floor plan of the apartment.
You will also see an overview of the images you have uploaded so far, automatically sorted by room. You can move pictures to other room categories, upload more pictures or delete them, and choose a compelling cover photo for your listing. To increase the visibility of your listing, we recommend choosing a cover photo that shows a unique feature of your home, such as a beautiful garden or roof terrace. The living room or bedroom can also make a great cover photo and will be clicked on most often.
What makes the perfect listing photos stand out?
We recommend that you use professional photos, as they increase the attractiveness of your listing and can increase demand by up to 25%. However, you can upload your own photos first and replace them with professional photos later. We have put together some helpful tips for taking your own apartment photos in this article: The 5 Dos & Don’ts of taking apartment photos.
At Wunderflats, landlords/-ladys have under certain conditions the opportunity to have their apartment photographed by a professional real estate photographer. For more information, please contact us directly at photo.manager@wunderflats.com.
7. Insert title and descriptive text
Now you can insert your listing title and description text in English and German (or French, if you are listing an apartment in France).
What makes a compelling listing title?
With the title, you want to draw the attention of potential tenants to your listing. Therefore, try to mention the most important feature of your apartment in the title. The title should be short and to the point. It should immediately make readers understand what makes your apartment special and different from other apartments. The use of descriptive adjectives can be helpful here, as they stimulate the reader’s imagination. Is your apartment in a particularly quiet location? Is it flooded with light, spacious or wheelchair accessible? You should definitely include such advantages in the title of your listing.
How to create an informative description text?
As a rule, you should always write the text in English and German/or French, depending on where your apartment is located. This will increase the number of potential tenants. Describe the advantages of your apartment in detail to get people interested in your apartment. Highlight any special features and provide information about the location, immediate surroundings, public transport connections and the distance to the city centre, the nearest supermarket and places of interest and. Be as detailed as possible, but make sure your text is not too long. Also provide information about important house rules, such as certain night-time rest periods. If you offer additional services for your apartment, such as a concierge or cleaning service, you should also mention this.
Important: Provide lots of details. Detailed information makes your listing more attractive. For example, you can highlight special features of the apartment or each room. After all, the furnishing of a furnished apartment has a great influence on both the demand and the rent. The furnishings in a furnished apartment have a major impact on both demand and rental price. You can find tips on how to furnish your apartment in our hub.
In general, we recommend that you first write out the text of your listing and then preferably have it proofread. This will help you avoid spelling mistakes and ensure that the text is easy to understand and reads smoothly. A well-written text, in addition to the photos, contributes significantly to a positive first impression of the apartment and of you as a landlord/-lady.
8. Set the monthly all-inclusive rent
Enter the monthly all-inclusive rental price (including all additional costs) for your apartment here. Also, specify the amount of the deposit and the final cleaning fee. The deposit and final cleaning fee are charged once and are not part of the monthly rent.
You determine the rental price yourself. You should consider various factors, such as the location and size of your apartment, the amenities and number of beds, the rental price of similar apartments in the area. In any case, you should take into account certain legal influences that may apply in your region, such as those in Germany relating to the misuse of an apartment. A reasonable and competitive rental price will increase both the visibility of your listing on our website and the number of booking requests.
At Wunderflats we work with all-inclusive rentals. This means that all additional costs such as water, heating, electricity, internet, purchase costs of furniture (in the form of a furnishing surcharge in Germany), property tax and other running costs should already be included in the rental price. In specific terms, the monthly all-inclusive rent is made up of the following costs: the rent per square metre, all additional costs, the furnishing surcharge and the Wunderflats Service Fee. Please note: In the case of an all-inclusive rent, there are special regulations regarding the settlement of additional costs in Germany. You can find detailed information on this in our article Temporary furnished rentals: All you need to know about the legal aspects.
Are you unsure about determining your rent? Our experts will be happy to help you. Please reach out to realestate@wunderflats.com.
9. Information on house rules
Inform your tenants about relevant house rules: whether pets are allowed in the apartment and whether smoking is allowed in the apartment. You also have space here to explain additional rules – for example, whether parties are allowed or when the night’s peace must be respected. If necessary, explain certain conditions in English and German or French.
10. Additional information for a successful first booking
Update availability calendar:
It is important that you provide up-to-date information on when and for what periods your apartment is available. This is the only way to receive rental requests and avoid vacancies. In the Availability section of your dashboard, you can either import availability from your iCalendar or enter it manually. If you do not want to rent your apartment during certain periods, you can also block the apartment. Tenants will then see that the apartment is unavailable for that period. Please ensure that the available periods are at least equal to your minimum booking period.
After publishing your listing, you should make sure that the availability calendar is always up to date. Periods in which your apartment is rented via Wunderflats will immediately be added to the availability calendar and the apartment is shown as unavailable. This happens automatically, no need to manually take the listing offline.
Details of rent payment
Please also enter your billing address and bank details in your Wunderflats account. The information you provide here will not be published in the listing and will be kept strictly confidential. They are used to ensure that we can draw up the rental agreement for you as quickly and smoothly as possible in the event of a successful booking. Only then will the new tenant receive this information.
How do I publish my listing?
After you have entered all the necessary information in your listing on our website and added photos, you can complete creating the listing. After that, the only thing missing is the verification par before the listing is visible online.
- You can either simply start the verification process in your Wunderflats account profile. The verification is done by our partner, the identity verification platform Veriff. After successful verification, your listing is online and ready for booking requests.
- Or we can arrange a verification call. Once you have completed your first listing, we will send you an email to schedule a verification call with us. After the call, we will immediately activate your listing and make it visible to all prospective tenants. If you have already been in contact with our support team, we will publish your listing without a verification call.
Now you can sit back and receive the first booking requests.
Even after publishing your listing, you can log in to Wunderflats.com at any time and make changes to the listing. These are then immediately visible online.
What happens after the listing is published?
In general, you can expect the first booking requests just one or two days after publication. You will be informed via email about new booking requests and can also activate SMS notifications. To do so, simply log in to Wunderflats.com and go to “My Account” and “My Settings”. In most cases, SMS notifications are the fastest way to process new requests.
Then it’s up to you to choose the perfect tenant for your apartment from the requests. In general, you can expect an average booking duration of four months when renting through Wunderflats. However, this also depends on the region of the apartment, the rental price and the minimum rental period you set. We are happy to share our experience with you in order to achieve the highest possible occupancy rate for your apartment. Please feel free to contact us at realestate@wunderflats.com.
In your dashboard under “Performance” you will find further data about your listing. This allows you to see whether there is a need for improvement. Possible adjustments can be, for example: the rental price, the deposit amount, as well as photos, title and description or amenities.
We will briefly introduce the potential tenants to you via e-mail for all booking requests: What is their profession, how many people would like to move in, do they have a pet, how long would they like to rent the apartment, what would be your rental earnings. This allows you to view all requests transparently and saves you time, as it summarises the important information for you at a glance. As soon as you have decided on a tenant, we verify the person and draw up the rental agreement for you. If you wish, we can also handle the handing over of the keys and the entire administration of your apartment, so that you don’t have to worry about a thing. Simply get in touch with our Wunderflats Plus team, our professional rental management team to arrange a no-obligation initial consultation.
Checklist for your perfect listing
As you can see, there are many elements that go into creating a perfect listing. We analyze all the information you provide and use it to show your listing first to the tenants most likely to be interested in your apartment. This allows us to find the perfect tenant for your property as quickly as possible. By following all the steps of the listing process and going through the checklist below, you can improve the ranking of your listing by our algorithm, which can significantly increase the number and quality of your booking requests.
Please note: Your response time to booking requests received, your ratio of accepted to rejected requests, and your payment history are also relevant to our algorithm. So please make sure you always respond as quickly as possible, do not reject too many requests without reason, and pay your invoices on time.
To make your listing the most attractive to prospective tenants and achieve high demand, we recommend that you pay special attention to the following points:
- Did you upload a sufficient number of high-quality photos and choose a compelling title image? Could you find your way around the apartment based on the photos? All rooms and important features of the apartment should be visible.
- Is the text of the listing detailed and informative enough? Tenants usually come from another city or abroad and will appreciate more detailed information about the location and accessibility of the apartment, about shopping facilities and other tips about the surrounding area. Since many tenants also come from abroad, we recommend that the description text is always written in both English and German or French depending of the Country.
- Is the apartment sufficiently equipped and suitable for daily use so that your new tenants will feel comfortable and can “start settling in” straight away? Are all the important features listed in the listing?
- Is your availability calendar up to date? Make sure that the availability of your apartment is always up to date so that tenants can assess whether it is worth making a booking request. Please note: Availability and booking period must be compatible. This means that the availability should not be shorter than the minimum booking period.
- Is the rent reasonable? If the rent is too high, your listing may receive fewer requests.
- Do you respond promptly to booking requests? Responding quickly to requests and not rejecting an unnecessary number of requests improves your listing’s ranking. This will help your listing get more visibility and make positive impression on potential tenants. Please activate our SMS notification service.
Would you like more support? We are happy to help you with the listing and rental of your furnished apartment. We can also advise you on rental pricing and arrange an appointment for you with one of our property photographers. Just send us an e-mail at realestate@wunderflats.com.
Or get started now.
