In this market, homeowners are renting their properties rather than selling. If that's you, then start with these tips:

Minimize Your Vacancy Rates

Winter has the worst vacancy rates, and you lose rental income every month your rental home sits empty. Having a tenant move out at this time of year is often considered the kiss of death because finding tenants in the winter is more difficult. Kevin Haag, Founder and CEO of Douglas Realty and Development, encourages his rental property owners to offer something nobody else would to avoid an empty rental property in December and January. Consider an incentive such as “sign your lease before Christmas and get the first week of January free” or “sign your lease before New Year’s Eve and get a $100 gift certificate from your local grocer or well-known restaurant.” Haag suggests that if you dare to be different your results will improve.

In addition to offering incentives, compare your rents with those in the area to make sure your rent is fair. There are many different ways to do this, from checking comparable properties on rental property websites, to using an online service such as "Rentometer".
While your rental unit or home shouldn’t be priced too high, make sure it’s also not priced too low for two reasons. First, you want to maximize your rental income. Second, if potential renters think the rent is too low for the area, they may assume that something is wrong with your rental property and not even come and look at it.

Also, If you or your property management company (if you have one) doesn’t have a professional website to advertise your rental property, now’s the time to try to do something about that. Recent studies show that the vast majority of renters rely on the Internet to find rentals. And having a rental property on a landlord’s or property management company’s professional website is one way potential renters can confirm the rental home isn’t part of a rental scam. If you feel ill-equipped to take building a website on yourself, seriously considering hiring someone to help you.

Checklist: Minimizing Your Winter Vacancy Rates

• Offer incentives to move in to prospective tenants.
• Make sure your rents are fair for the area.
• Set up a website, or consult with a company that can do it for you.
• Consider being more flexible on the length of the lease.