Investor · Broken Arrow, OK · Member since 2015 · 4 posts · 1 vote
I have had this house on trulia and craigslist only had 1 interested person that looked at it. any tips why im not getting more inquiries about it here is the link thanks for the help.
Investor · Austin, TX · Member since 2014 · 217 posts · 170 votes
11y
I see two other houses in that zip code that are three bedrooms, listed for $950, and you are $1,200. Your house looks great, but I think it may be overpriced.
I checked Rentomer.com, it came back as "way too high" for that area and bedroom count. They have average rent at $772.
Investor · Austin, TX · Member since 2014 · 217 posts · 170 votes
11y
I see two other houses in that zip code that are three bedrooms, listed for $950, and you are $1,200. Your house looks great, but I think it may be overpriced.
I checked Rentomer.com, it came back as "way too high" for that area and bedroom count. They have average rent at $772.
Investor · Atlanta, GA · Member since 2013 · 646 posts · 392 votes
11y
Hi @Marco Morfin I agree with @Jason C. that the house is overpriced. You may want consider lowering rent to at market value and offer incentives for a longer lease period. It makes more sense to have someone pay a slightly lower price than to have the house sitting vacant in hopes of collecting that additional $100-$200 dollars.
Investor · Broken Arrow, OK · Member since 2015 · 4 posts · 1 vote
11y
Thanks for the advice. What kind of incentives would u offer or which ones help the most to get it rented. I agree a sitting house is hard on the pocket.
Real Estate Broker · Naples, FL · Member since 2013 · 9k+ posts · 6k+ votes
11y
You might not need to offer incentives if you price it right. Do you have a strong rental market or soft rental market? If you have a lot of competition then you have a few choices: lower rent; free rent (one week free with signed agreement??), free furniture, utilites paid, etc. Remember whatever you give away costs you money so don't go overboard. Do enough to find a quality tenant, and then work to keep them.
Real Estate Investor · Lexington, KY · Member since 2014 · 9 posts · 23 votes
11y
When a property is difficult to rent, price is the first thing that needs to be assessed. You can charge more if your property offers some significant value that others don't in the same size range. Realize, you can "force" a property to rent by lowering the price. Essentially making it so that someone can't resist renting it. Generally at that point profitability is eliminated or eradicated. Understand that at some price point your property "will" rent.
Another oft overlooked basic in a property renting is cleanliness. The fundamental cleanliness and first impression of the property will likely make $50-$100/mo difference in my market. You wouldn't believe how much deep cleaning just the baseboards and wood work can brighten a room.
Baltimore, MD · Member since 2014 · 91 posts · 49 votes
11y
I agree with everyone else. Price would be the first factor to consider. The only incentive I can think of off the top of my head is free or reduced rent for whatever month if the lease is signed by a certain date. You can also offer some type of gift card to a home store or something. At the end of the day people like to hear the word free, and it cost you next to nothing compared to a house just sitting.
Real Estate Agent · Southington, CT · Member since 2008 · 5k+ posts · 3k+ votes
11y
You are providing them with a clean and nice place to live. You do not need to offer any more incentives than that. Drop the price and you will get calls. I know it sounds simple, but every rental market I have been in is driven by price.
Hanford, CA · Member since 2013 · 5k+ posts · 1k+ votes
11y
Price it right, post on zillow too, and allow animals. Those are my "tricks" to getting it rented. I find if you are above the price, people won't even see if because they put a between this and this number in the search function.
Rental Property Investor · Yardley, PA · Member since 2008 · 1k+ posts · 561 votes
11y
Sure looks like a nice home. I noticed when I went to the Trulia page that the address was not listed. Any reason for that? If that is actually the case, then no one would want to see it if they don't know where it is!
EDIT: I found the Zillow listing before you purchased the home. You did a very nice job on the rehab. How much did you have to put into it?
Involved In Real Estate · Los Angeles, CA · Member since 2015 · 2 posts · 0 votes
11y
Hi Marco,
Have you checked out options for short term renters? I have property on VRBO and AIRBNB and although i'm in a very touristy area, I have been booked nonstop and with little upkeep and work. You should look at these websites, search your area and see peoples bookings on the calendar, that will tell you if you're in an area that's good for this.
Bedford, NH · Member since 2012 · 2k+ posts · 1k+ votes
11y
You know this quote from the Tommy Lee Jones character in Men in Black?
"A person is smart. People are dumb, panicky dangerous animals and you know it."
Well, prospective tenants are kind of the opposite. A tenant may be dumb, uninformed, cheap, etc. And many individual prospective tenants are those things.
But PROSPECTIVE TENANTS, as a GROUP, know everything. Seriously, they know everything about the rental market, because they are the rental market. So if you are advertising where prospective tenants in your area look, and getting no interest, then they are telling you something that they (collectively) know that you do not.
Most likely that is as simple as price. But it could be a little more. The overall value proposition. That is where things like incentives, security deposit amounts, pet policy, etc. come into play.
When I look at your listing, I see that you are allowing pets, have a security deposit that is equal to a single month of rent, have good pictures and a nicely updated house. The only negative I see is electric heat. So it is almost certainly price.
As mentioned above, you should list the address. People care about that. And while landlord paid security system is a nice perk, I wonder if that "incentive", in combination with the lack of address, might cause people to worry about the neighborhood?
Investor · Westminster, CO · Member since 2009 · 1k+ posts · 1k+ votes
11y
I just saw the ad and it says $1,099 per month. I own two rentals in Bixby, Oklahoma which I think are not far from this one and they are both larger. I am getting $1,195 for one and $1,295 for the other one. Both are 4 bedrooms and over 1,500 square feet. When I put a house on the market, I use a starting price that is about $100 over the average for the area, and lower the asking price by $50 each week. Out of seven vacancies last year, I filled six of them in two weeks or less. (The other one was a HUD Section 8, what a NIGHTMARE, lol) I don't recommend incentives and I don't recommend gifts/freebies. A clean house at a fair price in a good neighborhood is all you need.
If you receive less than five calls in the next week on that ad, then I suggest you lower it to $990-$999. If you get less than five calls again, you may need to lower it to $895 or so. The reason I suggest you drop it $100 each week is because it appears you may have started $200-$300 over the average and you need to get back to the average IF you are not getting the action you need.
Real Estate Agent · Philadelphia, PA · Member since 2013 · 451 posts · 369 votes
11y
General consensus seems to be lowering the price. I would also use postlets.com to create the ad. It distributes the ad to Zillow, Trulia and a bunch of other smaller sites. You can actually paste the programming of the ad into CraigsList too and the formatting is infinitely more attractive. Also, you may want to consider retaking the photos, they're really dark & do a poor job showing off what a nice renovation you did.
Real Estate Broker · Hollywood, FL · Member since 2014 · 34 posts · 6 votes
11y
Hi. I haven't look at your add (link) and honestly I don't think I need to. As an experience broker/investor I can tell you there are two reason why a property doesn't sell/rent. 1. Under exposure 2. Price...u get those in order and u will have the property rented in no time. Don't know what area are you but here in South Florida an agent will charge 1 month rent commission and paying an agent will save you lots of time, will help with the background check and will market he property better than just placing an add on trulia or craiglist but even an agent will have a hard time finding a tenant if the property is over priced.
1) I offer a $99 move-in incentive for vacant units. Most people are looking about 30 days before they actually need to move. They will pay the $99 and start paying utilities so their move is easier. Realistically now the best tenants are looking for an April 1 move in. You might find someone still looking for a Mar 1 move but they probably are under funded (might not qualify). This weekend I would offer the rest of Feb rent at $99. Next weekend I would do rent until April 1 for $199. Once I got into Mar it would be $99 rent. Lead with this in the title of your Craig's List ad. Make it "$99 first month rent" explain the rest in your ad.
2) Reduce security deposit to about half of monthly rent and again lead with this advertising.
3) Lower rent but charge for extra for appliances. You show a washer and dryer in the property. Lower rent to $900 per month and charge them $30 to rent the washer and dryer. I didn't see a refrigerator but if you furnish that in some areas you can get away with charging rent for that and for the stove as well.
4) You allow pets. Charge a pet registration fee and pet rent. If your area doesn't normally do this it doesn't matter. Make the pet registration fee slightly less than what other landlords are asking for additional security deposit for pets. Charge pet rent.
I know some folks think this is nickle and diming the tenants but it works. The lowest price gets the showings and that's the fact. After that tenants get to pick what they want to pay.
Just think, if you rent it for $900 with one pet at $25 per month and the washer and dryer your rent is now $955 (market rent according to what others have said) but you are rented and don't have to sit a month while others compare your unit with all the others.
Just some thoughts to consider with your situation.
Investor · Jacksonville, FL · Member since 2014 · 172 posts · 73 votes
11y
Really nice curb appeal, and the rehab is super. In some areas, $1200/month would be easy for this rental, but it appears that you've outpriced your tenants in your particular market. I like the idea of dropping $100/ week until you have a lease signed.
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