Having Trouble Renting My 3/2 Student Condo

[Chris Eaker]

Hello All,

I have a 3-bed/2-bath condo in an area where mostly students live. It's a nice condo, relatively new, and comes with free off-street parking, which is valuable around a college campus. It has been rented by the same tenants the last two years at $1800/mo. They're moving out at the end of July.

I have had this condo on the market since March and I have had maybe 3 inquiries about it. I started at $1800, then steadily dropped it and now it's at $1575. I don't know why I'm having so much trouble other than maybe the market is saturated now. There has been alot of new student apartment construction over the last 2 years. 

It's currently listed on Zillow, Trulia, Hotpads, Craigslist, Realtor.com, etc. What do you suggest I do to generate some interest in this unit? My break-even rent is $1410. That still includes allowances for maintenance, taxes, insurance, vacancy, etc. Below that I lose money on it.

[Account Closed]

I think lowering the rent so much is probably a mistake - unless the market has really dropped.  Check what other units are renting for.  But, if you are too much under market, good tenants will wonder what's wrong with it, or assume something is wrong with it.

What about college off-campus listing websites?  I loved law students, and I went to the law school to ask about putting ads up on a bulletin board somewhere, and the housing director there said she'd be happy to list my vacancies on their facebook page!  They didn't have enough on-campus housing for incoming law students.  

That college also has a website for off-campus listings, but then I'd get a bunch of undergrads calling, and I really wanted to stick with grad students, so I focused on the law school.

So, maybe check out marketing right on campus - contact the college to find out how to market to them.  If there is an engineering dept or nursing or medical or law - those students are fantastic.  Also, the international students are fantastic - you can contact the international student department.  They just study and never party lol.

If you were collecting $1800, my guess is it's worth that much.  You just need to figure out what's wrong with your marketing.  Figure out who you want to rent to, then how to market to them.