Should I contact previous prospects if I lower my rent price?

[Isabeth Parga]

Hi everyone!

My business partners and I just purchased and renovated a property in Houston, TX and are excited to start our path towards passive income. We have had a lot of prospects contact us about the property (almost 80) via phone in the last month but have only had 1 serious applicant which unfortunately fell through. We have a 4bed/2.5 bath which we posted for rent at $1,600/mo. This is pretty competitive compared to the rentals in the area which range form $1450 to $1700 depending on sq ft of the property. 

Considering that we have had a lot of interest in the property but not a lot of serious applicants we have lowered the rent price to $1,550. We figure that $50 less a month is a lot less expensive than continued vacancy. 

Our original marketing strategy was just a sing in the yard which brought in a lot of traffic but we have upped our game and have listed our rental on Craigslist, Zillow, and Zumper. We have also changed the application process to online through Zumper.

My question is whether I should contact the previous prospects (the ones who seemed most interested) to let them know we have reduced the rent price and what method of contact would be best (call or text)? 

Any additional advice as to how we can get our property rented out soon would be greatly appreciated!

[Paul Bowers]

@Isabeth Parga, I make my living selling and my first thought was to reach out to the people that seemed interested and didn't apply and ask why.  I would want to know where they ended up going.  Is it your rent, is it your policies, is it your location, is there something about the unit itself?  There's a reason they aren't applying and it may not just be the rent.  Find out what it is.