All Forum Posts by: Frank Jiang

well said Alex Baev. I guess only people live here can appreciate the uniqueness of the small community. It's probably not realistic to rent it out in a week. I'll have to take my time.

Jon, thank you for your suggestion.I did check the rentometer, I think websites like zillow and rentometer are getting smarter day after day, however, they still don't have the capability of picking the comparables based on the same school district, which makes their estimate totally off.

I don't know if it's a good idea or not... I called a couple of local RE agents and ask them to find tenants for me and I'll pay 3% of annual lease as commission. If I can save one week's time, the rent will pay for the commission itself.

Welcome Matt. I am in LA too. I joined the BP a few days ago.... Just want to reach out to say hello.

I am very analytical, probably because of my daily job. Talking about the right price, there are lots of experience involved. Everyone says should be cheaper than average. Unfortunately, I don't have the opportunity to go to every rental house in my area to get the experience, the benchmark I have is what's on the current market. But there is a bias using the data on the market because they represent the house that do not rent out, probably due to overprice.

BTW, does anyone know any website listing the past transactions of rental properties?

I'll post a yard sign, and hopefully my neighbor will not through eggs on it. :)

I'll have three showings this weekend as of today. One guy is already trying to convince me to rent the house to him. He said he does not have a good credit record and won't be able to buy a house in the area, but he has three businesses and has money to pay the rent .... He has three kids and would like to get in the public school.

Another lady is a RE agent and this is for herself and the family. Both her kids go to prestigious private schools that are not far away. She seems a high-maintenance type and might be picky. I'll be hesitating to rent the house to her.

I think the best tenant will be full time employed with good credit history. The dilemma is with rent he is paying, he may be able to find a similar house to buy if he has good credit.

I may be asking too much... But I'll wait for another two weeks before reduce the rent.

Just FYI, here is the link of the house. Please don't shoot me for asking that money for such a shabby house. http://losangeles.craigslist.org/sgv/apa/3960956785.html

Jon, I did my study. I don't think it's overpriced, but as you said, if my goal is to get good tenent, I should reduce the rent. The house is 2100 sqft for 3B/3B + den. Smaller houses in the area are listed with higher $/sqft.

Pros and cons are
+ upgraded kitchen and bathroom
+ large backyard
+ quiet street, safe and well established neighborhood.
+ den can be used for office
+ the family room was a bedroom before with closet
- no garage, two car carport
- split level, the living room is downstairs
- no formal dining room
- location is far from public schools but close to a few private schools

BTW, total available houses for rent on the market is 9 as of today. 6 are 3 bedroom house and they are all listed with higher $/sqft. Did I say the school district is exceptional?

For some reason, I don't feel comfortable to post the sign in front of the house. It's a close-knitted community, I may offend the neighbors.

This is an SFH in a very quiet street and I am targeting family who valuate the good school district and may forgive other disadvantages of the house.

Got a third call this morning and is the kind of tenent that I expect. I'll try Postlets, thank you Aaron, and wait until the weekend.

Maybe I am inexperienced since this is my first time try to lease my house. Or maybe it's only the second day I posted the ads. But I only received two inqueries regarding the new posts. My questions are

Am I listing the price too high? It's about the average of the $/sqft of the houses on the market for rent.

Should I try more websites? I posted on craigslist, zillow and trulia so far.

How many inqueries you get so that you know it's priced right?
School starts in August, and the inventory on the market is low, I thought there should be many people looking right now.

Great post Brandon. I'll definitely check out the insurance as well. There is not much time left, I'll see if I can fix it in a couple of days. Trying to post ads tonight for showing this weekend.