What I am I doing wrong? Can't get it rented.

[Brad E.]

Hey BP - I am having some trouble getting my first property rented and I would love to have some feedback from the community to see what I should be doing differently.

Property details:

2 Bd/ 1 bath duplex

Light rehab performed - floor paint and various other cosmetic improvements

C+ neighborhood

Listed since 11/1/17

Price: $695/month, includes yard maintenance and trash pickup

1 side is occupied at $525; needs a rehab

I have it listed on craigslist and syndicated through Zillow.

Minimum qualifying standards:

620 credit score

3x monthly rent income

No pets

No smoking

I've set up a screening process that requires prospects to fill out a questionnaire before I will schedule a time to show it to the tenant. When they contact me through the listing site I send them a link to the questionnaire via the email address they provide.

Once a questionnaire is submitted I review it and if it looks good I will set up a time to view the unit.

At the showing I give them a property handout with a link to my online rental application and my contact info. I

To date I've had 180 inquiries from the various listing sites and 37 questionnaires submitted, with only 1 actual application submitted.

My funnel is definitely narrowing down the field but it's too narrow because hardly anybody is finishing the process.

On the surface it seems like the problem is occurring at the application process. However, I am not sure of that.

My application is through cozy.co and it runs $39 which covers the credit and background check. I can't control this cost unless I change providers, which I am open to doing.

I've started experimenting with the price by lowering in down to $675 where its been for about 2 weeks. I am planning to lower it again this week down to 650. I've also lowered my credit requirement down to $600.

I don't think I'm comfortable going any lower on the credit score, but I may have to continue dropping the price. I do think the price is already competitive because there are other units in the same neighborhood around that price.

I am questioning if the application fee is creating too much of a barrier to entry.

During November and December I chalked it up to the holidays making it hard to rent. Now that we are more than half way through January, I'm not really sure what the problem is or what I am doing wrong. I’ve recently implemented an exit survey which I send to folks after they have viewed the unit. I’ve only sent it 1 time and had 0 response rate so far.

I would love to hear any suggestions you might have to help getting this thing rented!

Thanks in advance.

[Andrew Kerr]

@Brad E. I am going to assume since you have had 180 inquires the price for the product seems right. This leads me to believe that your process is too stringent. I personally wouldn't jump through all those hoops for a c+ area. I have to message to say I am interested, then fill out a form to even see it, I would pass. I have seen this done for ultra high end, very exclusive places but not low end.

If you are worried about spinning your wheels on one-to-one showings, do bulk showings instead. Do Friday 5-7pm, then Saturday from 10am till noon, or something like that. 

Also, when I did affordable housing I basically had to ignore credit scores, and I lowered my income qualifier to 2.5 times. What I focused on was have they paid rent on time and didn't cause damages when they left, and do they have a good job. I would ignore bad credit card and medical debt. 

I also found most of my hispanic tenants didn't speak english well enough to fill out online applications and screenings. Then my other lower income tenants, doing an online application was too difficult, I got more success having paper applications for them to fill out at an open house and give me a money order for the screening.

One other thought is the price might be to high for the C+ area.