First rental (was primary home) ... still no real bites since August

[Adam Conrad]

Here's my listing: https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/26-Cedar-Hill-Rd-Dover-MA... (it's listed on all the major sites).

Background: this was my SFH primary, bought a new primary, rented this one out (mortgage rate is too good). Put up rental when we moved in Aug with a local agent.

Had less than a dozen showings - only 2 applications. Both were immediate rejections (1 would not verify income, the other had a 500ish credit score).

Everyone else has either ghosted or not very interested. Scratching my head. A few things I'm assuming are the root problems:

- Suburbs like this are very based on school years. If you don't rent before school year starts, a lot less interest (and have to wait a long time until the next real estate season in spring).

- Families balked at the pet fee. I charged a $50/pet fee (common I saw on here) but they all disappeared because of that fee. Given how much I've lost in rental income, seems like a silly thing to have pushed for even if at the time it seemed smart (most had multiple pets, and at least 1 high-risk pet). 

So is it just a matter of taking the losses on the chin and waiting until deals pick up January (or even as late as March?). What to do in the meantime?

[Bruce Woodruff]

Quote from @Adam Conrad:

Here's my listing: https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/26-Cedar-Hill-Rd-Dover-MA... (it's listed on all the major sites).

Background: this was my SFH primary, bought a new primary, rented this one out (mortgage rate is too good). Put up rental when we moved in Aug with a local agent.

Had less than a dozen showings - only 2 applications. Both were immediate rejections (1 would not verify income, the other had a 500ish credit score).

Everyone else has either ghosted or not very interested. Scratching my head. A few things I'm assuming are the root problems:

- Suburbs like this are very based on school years. If you don't rent before school year starts, a lot less interest (and have to wait a long time until the next real estate season in spring).

- Families balked at the pet fee. I charged a $50/pet fee (common I saw on here) but they all disappeared because of that fee. Given how much I've lost in rental income, seems like a silly thing to have pushed for even if at the time it seemed smart (most had multiple pets, and at least 1 high-risk pet). 

So is it just a matter of taking the losses on the chin and waiting until deals pick up January (or even as late as March?). What to do in the meantime?

Ultimately, if your property is not renting (or selling), it comes down to price. You can allow pets or not, still comes down to price.

i would not compromise my rules or fees just to rent it sooner. Nothing is worse than a bad tenant, even losing few months of rental income....IMHO.