First time landlords: Getting a tenant

[Anna Milligan]

The fact that we are novice in this business will shine through in this post. We purchased our first investment property as a foreclosure on 9/2/16. The idea was a BRRR approach. On top of the $65k price tag, we put $22k into renovation and repairs. We paid cash with the idea that we would get a mortgage on the property when the improvements were complete. Now, here we are with $85k in this thing. We think it will appraise at about $110k. Based on comparable sized homes for rent in the area, it should rent for about $1000/mo. Sounds decent, right? Well, we can't get the darn thing rented. We've had it on the rental sites (Zillow, Trulia, HotPads, and Craigslist) for 3 and a half weeks. We've had a total of 44 inquiries. When the flood of inquiries started coming in, we thought "This will be easier than we thought!" So wrong. Of the 44 inquiries, we have made about 12 appointments to show the place. Of the 12 appointments, only 6 have actually showed up! After two no-shows, we started sending appointment confirmation texts. Still, no luck in getting people to actually show! What do we do? We are solidly into the "holiday season" now and I feel like we're going to have even more trouble renting the place. Do we lower the rent? Do we eliminate the $35 application fee (FABCO check) and cover that ourselves? Do we just grit our teeth and wait it out? So far, the only comments we've gotten are that the floors aren't in good condition (they are hardwood and could use refinishing but we are TOTALLY out of money to do that... We're lucky to be able to give our kids Christmas this year!).