Lots of inquiries, shows, no lease

[Lacey S.]

My husband and I recently bought our first house to rent, it was a big step taken after much research and thanks in part to what I have learned from BP!

I've been marketing it for several weeks (posting a few times a day to craigslist, it's on zillow, truilia, hotpads, realtor.com, ect). The first week we had it listed on the high side for the area, $1350 and had 4 showings (2 good prospects). Since we knew we were on the high end and no one took the bait, we came down to 1250 which is more the area I was expecting/want to be and we decided to offer lawn service (60-80/month depending on the season) because a few of the comments from prospects were about taking care of the lawn.

With the lower price, I've had probably 20+ inquiries and arranged 3-4 showings, no takers. Only a few people this whole time have even asked for applications. I tried an open house and only 1 person attended. The majority of the inquiries did not respond when I replied to their inquiry, most did not ask any questions so I would just offer to show it to them at X time and include our rental reqs.

The house is renovated - there is laminate flooring thorough out, granite countertops, nice new paint. I wouldn't say 100% the newest everything but 90% redone. A fabulous fenced yard and we're allowing pets. The neighborhood is C+ I would say. Our street has little 1970s houses on half and smaller  apartment complexes on half (some of which are section 8). It is rated as "low crime" on Trulia.

Do we need to lower the price more or is this a case of where I just need to wait for the right person? We are still projected to make a small profit at 1100/mo so we can afford to go down, I just don't know if the price is the issue or we need to wait a little longer...Thanks for your insight!