Having a hard time finding tenants for my rental my unit.

[Diana Costta]

Dear BP investors,

I have a duplex in Ohio and I put an 1/1 unit on the market for rent. It has been on the market for more than a month, my PM told me to consider decreasing the rent, but I see competitors in the area charging the same amount for the same type of unit. My question is: what strategies do you usually employ to get tenants in situations like this? and how long do you wait to see if a strategy is working or not (2 weeks)? Thank you.

[Diana Costta]

@Jill F. I sent you the property details. let me know what you think. Thank you.

[Diana Costta]

@Scott Henninger thank you for the tips.

[Wale Lawal]

@Diana Costta

You can Promote Your Property with a local Real Estate Agent.

Generally, real estate agents understand critical tidbits of this industry as they routinely interact with property developers, tenants, landlords, property managers, etc. Marketing your property with local real estate agents can come in as a handy strategy to get better tenant exposure, speed up the renting process, and list your property at the right place.

Good luck!

[Linda S.]

@Diana Costta,

The market is speaking, and it's saying you are asking too much.     You can do a move in special, of say -250, or you could just lower price $20-25/month, and see if it gets more attention.   I don't think we've ever had a house be on the market for more than 2 weeks, so again-- the price will dictate if the market sees the value as correctly listed, or overpriced.    Set the pride aside, and lower rent and watch the market react!  

Think of how much money you are losing by NOT having it rented?!   

[Andres Murillo]

Cleveland is tough - there's a ton of super similar inventory in most areas. Have you seen those competitors actually get leased or are they still in marketing as well? 

That being said I think you have to make sure your PM isn't only doing "self tours". You might have to find a leasing agent in the area to help with this but actual "guided tours" by your PM or agent can be really helpful. You need someone to sell your address over all the others.

In terms of seasonality - you might consider a reset lease term. A 12 month lease term would put you in the same seasonality next year. Try offering a 9-month lease. That would make your lease end date around May/June - much better seasonality. 

[Leland S.]

Quote from @Diana Costta:

Dear BP investors,

I have a duplex in Ohio and I put an 1/1 unit on the market for rent. It has been on the market for more than a month, my PM told me to consider decreasing the rent, but I see competitors in the area charging the same amount for the same type of unit. My question is: what strategies do you usually employ to get tenants in situations like this? and how long do you wait to see if a strategy is working or not (2 weeks)? Thank you.

Offer a move in bonus of up to 1/2 first months rent. Use the various websites to publish to a bunch of networks. I did well with just zillow/apartments.

[Carlos Ptriawan]

I am many times helping my Property Management indirectly.

They only list the vacant on Zillow. So I created the ads in FB Marketplace, and within 2-3 weeks it was occupied.
From San Jose,CA to Wisconsin, only FB marketplace that really works.

[Joe Hammel]

@Diana Costta

Is it on MLS, Realtor.com, Zillow, Facebook market place?

Are the photos good?

Write up good?

Is PM on top of things?

Just some stirring questions to maybe help find the root cause!

[Richard F.]

Aloha,

Have you looked at all the photos of the comparative ads? Do they actually compare very closely to yours, in terms of finishes, apparent age, and fixtures? Is yours VERY clean and fully functional? Good curb appeal, or tired (or even, just "average") looking?

If it is similar to others, one other factor is simply the availability of your PM for showing the units. There are often times when schedules do not mesh well, and the prospect is not sitting around waiting for your PM. They continue looking at other properties, and often take the first one they actually like that they can sign papers on that day, especially if it is a hot market. It is unfortunate, but for a PM, all of our clients are important, so when we have multiple vacancies we might be tied up with other prospects and potentially miss out on a hot prospect for another property. It doesn't happen often, but is reality. If your PM's first priority is sales, rather than PM, that could be an issue, depending on how big their office is and how many are showing rentals. I often advertise "View it today, move in tomorrow, on approval!" I also ask, when scheduling a showing, "how soon are you wanting to move in?", and adjust MY availability based on their response. I have never offered discounts or incentives to move in. In my opinion, you are better off getting someone that truly WANTS the unit, not someone that is settling for it, or is short on money and NEEDS to go for the cheaper option.

[Peter Albanese]

Quote from @Patrick Drury:

@Diana Costta
Where is your PM advertising the property for rent? Please let us know where it is being advertised that might play a role in why it's not getting traction. It should be up on Zillow, aparements.com, Trulia and hot pads. If no traction, try the Facebook marketplace. Did the leasing agent have any feedback from the other showings as to why they didn't apply? In regard to the price, if all other items have been addressed, it most likely could be the price I would recommend lowering every 2 weeks or week depending on the traction you get after lowering it. 

 I agree with all of these advertising site but Facebook marketplace. Facebook leads are usually unqualified tire kickers dreaming of a place they can’t afford . 

[Peter Albanese]

Quote from @Diana Costta:

Dear BP investors,

I have a duplex in Ohio and I put an 1/1 unit on the market for rent. It has been on the market for more than a month, my PM told me to consider decreasing the rent, but I see competitors in the area charging the same amount for the same type of unit. My question is: what strategies do you usually employ to get tenants in situations like this? and how long do you wait to see if a strategy is working or not (2 weeks)? Thank you.

 If you know someone who works at a large employer in the area, you can reach out to them to post something on their internal message boards. I’ve done this with success. Sometimes they have new employees relocating to your city for a large company and the new people don’t know where to live so the company can refer them to you. Consider calling the HR department and they may bounce you over to another department for relocating employees. 

[Karen Margrave]

@Diana Costta if your PM says you need to decrease the price, you probably do. If nobody is renting it, there's something you aren't seeing. Is it in identical condition as the others in the area? Is it in the same neighborhood? Something is going on if there's others in the same neighborhood, with same finishes and condition, space, number of bedrooms, parking, yard, etc. are renting and yours isn't. What is it? 

[Adam Christopher Zaleski]

Get the unit really clean and in really good condition and pay for professional photos. It's expensive, but you can recycle the photos for the next 15 years. 

[Dan Heuschele]

Quote from @Diana Costta:

@David M. yes, one property came up last week on the same street of my property. Also a 1/1, so if they get to rent that one faster than mine. That will tell me, there's a deterrent to mine.

In terms of leads I got 65 leads, 9 showings and 1 application for that unit which it was denied because of credit and income. I am hesitant to reduce rent because rentometer and BP rent estimator tells me that the current rent for that area is what is being announced at my property.

Commercial property are valued based on NOI and comp rates. They need to achieve top rent to maximize value.

Your duplex is valued on comps and not valued in the rents.  This implies that the rent impact is isolated to your cash flow.  1 month vacancy is equivalent to an 8% reduction in rent to the annual cash flow.  

I recognize my market is very different than the Ohio market but a 1 BR in my market ranges from $1600 to $2200.  One month vacancy at a $1600/month rent equates to $133.  This implies I could rent immediately at $1467/month versus renting a month later to obtain same cash flow through a one year lease.  

Get the unit rented.  If it requires a rent reduction to minimize the vacancy then reduce the rent.  

Good luck. 

[Robert Arquilla]

@Diana Costta

What part of Cleveland?

[Ryan Keeslar]

@Diana Costta how are you marketing it? Have you boosted a Facebook add on marketplace?

[Conn G.]

@Diana Costta

How is the PM marketing the rental. I like to syndicate to multiple websites including FB marketplace. FB gives me the most leads however it's the most time consuming

[Colleen F.]

@Diana Costta  what did the 9  showings say?     The only thing I can think of that hasn't been mentioned is a neighbor or neighborhood issue. Hopefully the lawn guy is doing a good job and the place is clean.  Is the unit down the street offered at the same price?

[Drew Sygit]

@Diana Costta let's look at this logically:)

There are really only two main reasons a property doesn't rent out:

1) Not enough exposure to the right target audience

2) The audience doesn't like the price-value relationship

To drill down on what the problem is:

1) How many views are you getting?
---Not enough is a sign that the property is not getting enough exposure, has a bad initial view or is priced way to high

2) How many inquiries are you getting?
---If a decent amount of people are viewing it, but not inquiring for more info or a showing, then they are not liking what they see when they view the ad. Either price is too high for what it is, or has bad pics or bad description or not enough showing availability.

3) How many showings are being scheduled?
---Not enough is another sign that price is too high for what it is or has bad pics or bad description or not enough showing availability.

4) What percentage of showings actually happen?
---If too many showings are cancelled, curb appeal may be an issue or may be part of the market and more confirmation is needed.

5) Lots of showings but few applications?
---Usually a sign that price-value is perceived to be out of line. Need to lower price or improve the product.