When to take down a listing a repost with a higher rent?

Question

I’m starting my first house hack, and I have one more room to fill. I gave a friend a good deal on the first room, but I just put up the listing for the other room two days ago. Since then, I’ve had 9 inquiries about the room. I have 3 showings set up currently, and I have to get back to the other 6 interested people today.

My question is, when do you know that you’re undercharging for rent? This is my first time renting the room, so I’m not sure if 9 inquiries in that tome period is normal or enough to tell me that I should take down the ad and repost it at a higher rate. It’s priced similar to other house hacks in my area, but it is a few hundred less than what someone could get a 1 bedroom apartment for.

What do you all think? Should I see how many people actually apply, or should I raise the rent and repost it?

Luke Gates · Answer

@Nathan G. Thanks for taking the time to reply. Based on your response, it looks like I didn’t include enough information.

Of course I looked at other listings in my area before advertising my rental. As I made repairs and improvements I took notes about rooms for rent, 1br apartments, and 2br apartments in my zip code and other areas of the city. My listing is priced accordingly, but I want to make sure I’m not selling myself short before accepting a tenant. There are not a lot of rooms for rent in my zip code, and the houses they are offered in vary greatly.

As I continued to contact potential applicants yesterday I found the actual correct answer to my question. Instead of looking at the number of interested parties (26 over the last 3 days), what I really need to look at is the number of showings scheduled (4) and, most importantly, the number of people who actually submit an application (0 so far). These numbers tell me that it’s definitely not time to take down the listing and relist with a higher rent.

You’re right, including the renter requirements in the ad is very helpful in deterring unqualified applicants. I’ve found that a lot of people on FB Marketplace don’t actually see the property description included, so I created a generic reply for everyone sending an FB message. I included it below in case any other newbies would find it helpful.

“Thanks for your interest in the room. Do you have any questions I can answer before setting up a showing? Also, have you seen the renter requirements in the ad? I always like to double check because sometimes it’s hard to see all the info on FB Marketplace. Here’s a link to my Craigslist ad with all the same info: (insert link here)”

Nathan Gesner · Answer

The correct answer is that you should have studied the market long before you ever advertised your rental.

It's not unusual to get nine people interested in a rental, especially if you didn't include any pre-screening information  that would eliminate unqualified renters. For example, I can advertise a rental today and get 30-40 inquiries within a week IF my advertisement is pretty basic (size, terms, price). If I run that same ad but include some basic application requirements (e.g. applicant must prove they make 3x the rent, pass a credit/criminal background, and have a Landlord reference for at least one year) then the number of inquiries may drop to five because people that can't meet those requirements won't bother calling. Sometimes, just posting that there is a $30 application fee will reduce the number of inquiries by 25-50%!!!

You have to study your market and build some experience to know what is normal.