Up high homie! Good to have you around, now let's find you a home. There are several ways to boost your success through Homeboy and get invited to home viewings. Follow the steps below to increase your chances of finding a new home in no-time.
1. Choose your preferred subscription
First of all, in order to start receiving real-time alerts you should purchase a subscription that works best for you. Subscriptions will give you that edge during the house hunting process, as you'll be one of the first to know about newly published offers on various property sites in Germany. For those of you with a free trial, a subscription will automatically be assigned to your account, so you can move on to step 2.
2. Set up multiple search profiles
Within your Homeboy account you can set up four search profiles, to run at the same time. In this way you can simultaneously focus on several areas you’re interested in. The option for multiple search profiles also enables you to share one account with your homies, as alerts for each profile can be send to a different email address or phone number.
3. Specify the listing types you want to receive
To increase the relevance of the listing alerts you receive, you can hide certain types. Go to “Search settings” in your Homeboy account and hide the listing types that are not relevant to you. These types include: Short-term Rentals, Premium Offers (requiring you to pay extra), WBS Offers (requiring a document for residential properties sponsored by public funds) and Flat Share Offers.
4. Receive listing alerts in WhatsApp
Emailing too old school for you? Activate WhatsApp! As your homeboy, we would like to have you on speed dial. That makes WhatsApp an outstanding channel. Simply select WhatsApp as the option to receive listing alerts, when setting up your search profile on home-boy.io (Make sure to activate WhatsApp alerts by replying "START", when receiving your first WhatsApp message from Homeboy).
At the same time, this setup also makes it easy for you to quickly share listing alerts with your homies, as soon as they arrive. Quick note: there is no timely disadvantage for email alerts, they arrive just as fast.
5. Move Homeboy emails to your primary folder
When choosing to receive listing alerts in your mailbox, you want to be sure they show up in your primary folder. However, it could happen that your email provider marks them as “promotions”, “updates” or even “spam”. If that’s the case, simply move the email to your primary folder. The last thing we want, is you missing out on your dream home!
6. Enable mobile push notifications
This might be a no-brainer to you, but whether you’ve chosen email or WhatsApp to receive listing alerts, enabling push notifications on mobile will notify you as soon as they arrive. That’s your cue to view them and respond as soon as possible, if they spark your interest.
7. Quickly respond to listing alerts
When receiving listing alerts to your liking, make sure to reply as quickly as you can. Because landlords receive many applications (could be hundreds), they tend to check the first batch of applications and reply when the interest is mutual. Many offers are taken offline after an hour, so that landlords are not overwhelmed with applications. This makes it crucial for you to act with a speedy reply. The first applicants are usually invited to viewings, should the rest of your application be sound.
8. Prepare your application to landlords
As time is of the essence, preparing your application to landlords could give you a head start. As your homeboy, we have full faith in you doing this incredibly well. If you need some suggestions and inspiration, check out our free application letter composer below. It could be just the advice you’re looking for. Next to the application letter, it is important to have all your documents ready to present to the landlord. Check out the required documents HERE.