Anxious landlord - Landlord Forum thread

Anxious landlord by Maiko (Al) on August 2, 2012 @14:46

I have just recently finished renovations on my first rental property. I posted my rental on all the usual sites and the calls and emails started coming in about 2-3 per day. I've shown the house to around 8 potential tenants the first weekend. Two were disqualified, the rest took applications and have not returned. Now, the callers and emails have gone from steady to dead stop 3 weeks in.
My rental is a little under $100 a month below market price, and I can make a decent profit by dropping it $100 more if needed.
So, here's the question. Should I just chill out and let it ride or should I go ahead and drop the price and just get someone in there? With the school year about to begin, I've been worried about missing the prime rental period and being stuck without a renter.

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Re: Anxious landlord by Anonymous on August 2, 2012 @14:50	[ Reply ]

You might want to refresh or renew your listings online. After a while, they get pushed to the bottom or 2nd pages and people generally look at the newer listings first. You may wish to expand your market by advertising in a local newspaper or at local colleges, churches etc. In my area there are several small newspapers that allow free advertisement of apartments.

Re: Anxious landlord by Anonymous on August 2, 2012 @14:59	[ Reply ]

The biggest mistake you can make is to "just get someone in there". You are entitled to a fair profit and if you are sure you are $100.00 below market, don't go any lower. I tried an experiment where I advertised at a higher price for two weeks, and got 2 qualified responses. Then I dropped the price by $100.00 and got zero qualified responses. Go figure. BE PATIENT and stop wasting your time and showing the place to unqualified appplicants. Qualify these people upfront before you show the place or fillout an app. Do they have the cash to pay first, last and SD available right now? What is their estimeted FICO score? Last year I went through about 150 applicants. Only 3%, or 5 people were actually qualified. I determined this in advance. I then showed the place to the 5 people and one of them rented it, at market price.

Re: Anxious landlord

Re: Anxious landlord by Micah on August 2, 2012 @16:34	[ Reply ]

Sometimes cheap scares off the best renters! I had the same problem selling my stained glass. Once I raised the prices I started selling a lot more! A lot of people have price ranges in mind when looking and you may be selling the property short and therefore missing out on your target market!

Re: Anxious landlord by Anonymous on August 2, 2012 @18:44	[ Reply ]

I am feeling the same way. I have 3 rentals available and no one qualified to rent them. I am doing excellent pre qualifications and showing it to qualified people but they don't return the filled out application. I'm going to be patient and stick it out. good luck.

Re: Anxious landlord by Anna Mouse on August 2, 2012 @21:23	[ Reply ]

I think that the fact it is 8-2 plays into why you are seeing less incoming. Also there are many unqualified lookie loos that responded to your add in the beginning. It could be quality not quantity right now.

Re: Anxious landlord