How much rent should i attempt to get

[Sherwin Vargas]

i have a 3bd room apartment about 900 sq ft 3rd floor in the silver lake area in providence ri near cumerford st and wallace st cross. 

Half apartment completely redone w new windows other half painted and cleaned up with new floors. 

Trying to figure out what to charge for rent. 

We were thinking 1200 no utilities with a laundry included in basement and we pay for a 1 year street parking permit ( i dont want to clog up the driving since im living in this multi ). Heat will be forced hot air or baseboards( finalizing quotes this week. Not sure if it would effect rental prices much). 

I sort of feel like its too high and i won't find a renter what do you guys think? What should i charge? 

Thanks for any help. 

--posted one pic of bedroom painted, posted one not done yet still finishing up work -- 

[Anthony Thompson]

5 calls in a week isn’t a lot TBH, that’s pretty low actually and is an indication (in my mind anyway) that you’re reaching a bit on the rent.

Generally it’s better to wait until work is actually done to show it because almost no one (i.e., no one) can imagine what it will look like finished, even if you spell it out for them in detail. People react to what they see, period. If it’s still a work in progress you can tell them all you want about how it will be finished, but they’ve already mentally checked out.

As far as when to lower it and by how much, it all depends how soon you’re looking to rent it. If you’re aiming for April 1st then lower it to 1100 now and then if you’re still not getting a lot of calls maybe go down another 50-100 in a week. But if you’re aiming for May 1st then you have a little more time to test the market and can do it more gradually.

It’s an iterative process and there’s no right answer here, it’s a mixture of what the competition is doing, front line response to your marketing (calls) and back end feedback you get from calls/appointments.