Condo - Two Months on Market

[James H.]

Looking for suggestions...

We have a two bedroom condo in North Dallas (North of LBJ) in a decent neighborhood.  We bought it two years ago, fixed it up a bit, and put it in the market.  We got about 5 serious calls per day and had it rented within a week.  The tenant moved out at the end of June.

On July 3, we put the condo on Zillow, Cozy (which lists it on Realtor.com), and several other sites.  We have gotten 2 to 3 inquiries per week since then and just 3 showings.  The vast majority of inquiries are not serious and 75% of the showing appointments have not shown up - even though we exchange texts about an hour before the showing to confirm.

Our asking price for rent is $100 more than it was two years ago, which is still $25 lower than the two bedrooms at the apartment complex across the street.  (The complex across the street is not nearly as nice.)  At one point, we lowered the rent back to where it was two years ago.  But, that week, we got no calls at all!

On Sunday of this week, we posted the condo to Craigslist.  We verified that the listing as posted.  But, we got no calls from Craigslist.

Suggestions?  Has the rental market slowed this much?

Jim

[Bruce Lynn]

Lots and lots and lots of places for rent.   Something like 65,000 apartments have come online since 2012 in DFW area and 24000 more under way and probably that many more in the planning stages.   This year all of DFW has only seen about 1% growth in rent increase.   Apartments can often offer something individual owners have tough time doing....free rent....recently saw a sign in uptown offering 4-8 weeks of free rent....OUCH.   Apartments also staff where tenants can walk in to apply and see units.   That's some of the tough issues in investing in condos in DFW area.   The newer places can and probably are more expensive, but they also offer great amenities in most cases and some people are willing to pay extra for those.

There are additional strategies you can take.  You didn't provide us the listing, so we can't see the info and pictures, but could give you tips there.  Is the place easy to show or do the tenants have to work around your schedule?  Often people emailing, texting, calling when they're sitting in front of the unit.  They've driven there to ck out the area and now ready to see it.  Do you answer the calls on the fly or send them to VM to call back later?  Do you have a good sign out front?  Do you have text messaging on the sign?   Is it a professional sign or handwritten?   Do you have great pictures or ones taken from phone?  Do you have clearly written rental guidelines online or to give out?   Do you allow pets?  Do you allow Section 8?   Is everything in good repair and look good?   Does your ad use the right keywords for great SEO.   Are you offering realtor compensation for bringing tenants?   They'll get anywhere from 50% to 100% of one month's rent typically for recommending apartments.     Have you outlined the bonuses for staying in a condo vs apartment?   In some instances there are many.   

That's a start....and can keep you busy marketing for a while.