Trying to rent out my first rental

[Adam Moehn]

I recently bought my first rental property, did some renovations, and now I'm trying to rent it out.

We started advertising March 1st on Craigslist and Postlets. We’ve had 8 people contact us, five of which we’ve done showings for. All seemed interested and took applications. But we haven’t gotten any applications returned yet. We also haven't had any new leads contact us for almost a week.

I guess I’m not sure what to be expecting since this is my first time trying to rent out a place. Is this amount of activity good or not enough? Is it normal for people to take a while to return applications, or is the fact that none have been returned yet an indication that the rent is overpriced or the house has something wrong that tenants don't like? There are plenty of photos in the ads so they should have known what to be expecting when they looked at the place.

[Kevin Fletcher]

@Adam Moehn Potential tenants definitely give me the run around every time that I'm trying to rent my units. Many times they are no-shows for appointments, wasting time and energy. Even the tenants who take an applications seem to follow up only half of the time. If you ask anyone on bigger pocket what the problem is, 9 out of 10 will say you probably need to lower the rent in this situation. I typically wait for for a few weeks before I settle on lowering the rent, but the market generally dictates what you can rent it for. The fact that you have had 8 people contact you in 5 weeks probably means the rent is too high. A simple "For Rent" sign outside of my apartments tend to give me upwards of 6-10 calls a day (Its in a desirable area). You need to do something to advertise more the unit for rent. A good way (not Perfect) to know is by using www.rentometer.com to see if your current rates are competitive.