Property Manager · Houston, TX · Member since 2014 · 128 posts · 24 votes
Hey all,
I have listed a property in Katy, TX. It's been on the market for about one month. I believe the price is good according to CMA.
It is a two story, with all bedrooms upstairs, some people say they need at least one bedroom down. It is in a good condition, 2006, 4 bedrooms, 2 and half bath.
Making it short, I don't know what is wrong. Please advise how could I find the problems on my side. The rent was 1350 and we changed it to 1300. But it didn't solve the problem.
I have 7 units I own and rent in the Houston area with rents ranging from $500 to $1200/mo. I even have one just south of this listing in Katy off of Clay road. In addition to all the excellent suggestions already provided, you should consider advertisting in the Greensheet. It normally costs me $15 for an ad covering one distribution area for a week. These days the Greensheet provides both a hardcopy newspaper style circular and an online ad. I get queries from both. From my experience I get more traffic from the Greensheet then any other source, though I cover my bets with Postlets and a sign in the yard.
Rental Property Investor · Englewood FL & Prior Lake, MN · Member since 2012 · 107 posts · 33 votes
11y
If you're getting that many calls and no applications, then the price is out of line with the property condition. With that many calls, the ad or pictures may not be the best, but they're working. I'd have to take a long hard look at the property, comparables, and the price.
Beyond that, if I was getting that many calls, I'd schedule open house style showings where all prospects show at the same time. Then you can properly prepare the place so it's warm and bright and multiple people viewing the property at the same time tends to make them competitive.
Residential Real Estate Investor · Kansas City, MO · Member since 2014 · 10k+ posts · 5k+ votes
11y
Increase your advertising for one. You should definitely be blasting out lots of craigslist ads and posting on either rentlinks or postlets. And it's very possible the rent is still too high. If tenants have a problem with the beds being upstairs, it's possible your CMA is looking at houses that don't have that issue. That would mean another price reduction would probably be in order.
Real Estate Investor · Houston, TX · Member since 2014 · 40 posts · 11 votes
11y
Two story is more difficult to rent then a single story is something I have heard as well.
You may consider calling back those prospective tenants that looked at the property and inquire about why they chose not to rent the home.
It may even help to come at it from a different angle, more of a follow up on your service, maybe asking if they have found something. If they haven't rented yet, offering your service to find the client what they need.
learning directly from prospects what the problem is may be the fastest way to bring it to light and solve it, whether it be curb appeal, price or layout.
Property Manager · Houston, TX · Member since 2014 · 128 posts · 24 votes
11y
I just want to update everybody, I do appreciate all of great ideas and solutions, I am trying to use almost all of them in my other listings as well.
For this one we went to the property and checked almost everything that came to our mind and then we painted the sink and cabinets, the sink was perfect after the paint, there was a stain on one of the bedrooms, we removed that, also we kept cleaning the living room more often, and finally we found a tenant. He had an agent and found this house through MLS.
Residential Real Estate Broker · Indianapolis, IN · Member since 2009 · 477 posts · 304 votes
11y
All of our advertising is on ZIllow, Trulia, and Craigslist. We refresh our rentals on Craiglst every Monday and Thursday. I don't even put signs in yards anymore we get them rented through those big 3 and several other feeder sites. We currently have 70 rentals.
Post on those sites, and then google your address a couple of days later and see if your ads are correct.