How to rent place. What are we doing wrong?

[Jeff Schleyer]

Earlier this summer, my wife and I bought an older city town home that we renovated lightly (updated bathroom and kitchen), within a reasonable budget. We ran into a 2 month setback with our first contractor and decided to rent it instead of living there because of delay +baby. Finally finished it and are trying to lease it for the past 1.5 month now (3.5 months from purchase), It's in a high rental, very popular neighborhood, 1 block from numerous restaurants, cafes and shops, train. A month in, we lowered the rent 5% and despite a lot of showings and positive feedback, we've only had 1 applicant so far, which was rejected due to credit history of late payments.

We posted on Cozy, Zillow, ETC. Any suggestions? I can answer any questions. We rent a place in Houston out and that was gone in 5 days so this is a little discouraging considering the 3 month set back of original contractor and new one having to finish things. 

[David Krulac]

@Jeff Schleyer

The front photo and the street with the overpass are not the most attractive.  Since you've had many showing maybe the photos are ok.  But since you had many showings and only one application something is wrong, and I would suggest that the people coming are expecting more for their money.

I think in both renting and selling, it always come down to the money.  If the rent was half of what your asking it would rent the first day.  I'm not suggesting charging half rent but somewhere between what you are charging and half of what you're charging the is a point of equilibrium between the minimum you'll take and the maximum that a tenant will pay.

I've rented properties for many year.  When there is turn over there are a few things that I do.  I always use Craigslist and Zillow for renting, rarely do I put a sign on the property unless there is a fair amount of traffic.  But I don't like to rent on streets with lots of traffic, no double yellow lines for me.  I also don't rent places that don't have off street parking, maybe a garage, maybe a carport, or maybe just a driveway.

I will look at comparable ads on CL and Zillow to look at their pix, what looks good what doesn't and what rents are they charging, and how old are their ads.  In addition, I'll test ad putting in an ad higher than I think it will rent for just to validate my rent.  If I rent at the higher price, good for me.  If the rent is too high for the product, then a lower the rent and get it rented, which is alos good for me.

I'll also look at rentometer, just to see that they have to say about the rent price.

Remember its always about the price$$$$$$$.  Sometimes lowering the asking price $20 does the trick, but I never want vacancy for 30 days, my goal is 14 days or less, and I might lower rent every week to get it rented.

I've bought and sold over 900 properties and have lost track of how many tenants I've had, but its been a lot.  Vacancy is a killer and I've had several 30 year tenants, I had one tenant that I didn't see for 24 years, which was alright with me as long as they paid the rent.

Bigger Pockets Podcast #82 guest