First investment property

[Ian Harris]

Hello everyone, I purchased my first investment property on Oct 31, 2013 and fixed it up and now it's ready for rent. Unfortunately, after alot of phone calls, showings, and answered phone calls it still hasn't rented. I'm not discouraged but wondering how come my 3bdrm and 2bath hasn't rented. The neighborhood schools isn't the best so that could be a reason but I do know of other landlords having quick turnarounds in getting people in their units.

[Shawn Holsapple]

@Ian Harris , I've had success with doing a low cost "staging" of the home [if you are not already doing this]. You can pick up a lot of nice looking home decor at Big Lots and other discount stores for a few dollars a it will make it feel more like home.

I use Postlets to create a nice flyer and then let it syndicate to about 50 other site including Zillow, Trulia, Hotpads, etc. This usually generates a could amount of calls.

How are the showings going? Do people not show up or show up but don't seem to excited? If you are sure they are walking anyway, go ahead and just flat ask for their honest opinion of why they don't like it.

I always ask them about half way through the tour if it "will work for them", then go from there.

Another trick I use is only schedule showings once or twice per week. When someone calls tell them you have some time this Wednesday [or whatever day you want] at 5:45. "Will that work for you"? NEVER schedule a showing at the top or bottom of the hour. There are a lot of studies showing people will actually show up if it's "east or west" :15 or :45. This is why doctors appointments and air travel have odd times. I will try to get as many people there at the same time as I can to build the sense of urgency and show that the home is very popular. This helps rent it fast AND saves you multiple trips across town to show it to someone that didn't show up. I've found Sunday @ 2:15 & Thursday @ 5:45 are good times to show.

I hope that helps.