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Updated over 6 years ago on . Most recent reply
Too many unqualified applicants
Hello all,
I own an investment property in the San Francisco Bay Area which I put on the market for rental two months ago. I have a real estate agent showing the house (which is different from how I did it in past years where I showed the house myself). We had one application 1 month after putting it on the market which was for short term rental but other than that just lots of tire kickers. 6 weeks into it, we lowered the price a bit and in the last 2 weeks we got a lot more interest/ traffic, plus applications, but the applicants have all been highly unqualified- they don't meet income minimum (3x rent) and one even just came out of bankruptcy. It is very frustrating and I was wondering if anyone has any feedback on what may be causing this unqualified applicant pool coming to my property and if there is anything I can do to attract more qualified prospects. Thank you.
P.S. My RE agent does not prescreen and just shows the property to everyone who asks to see it (when I showed the property myself I always prescreeened). Also my property is not new but it has been updated and presents very well from what I hear from the RE agent and reactions of prospects who visit (transmitted through the RE agent). It is also in a great location. Other properties in much worse condition have rented (granted one for a drastically lower price than listing) but several other properties in my area have been on the market for a while too. So the market has slowed down compared to the past
Most Popular Reply
fire the agent. You can do a better job yourself. RE agents make very little leasing units, they have no incentive.
Read a few books on CA landlord law. You're in Burlingame so there aren't too many local ordinances, but read up on them, if any.
For what it's worth, we receive 7-10 applications per week for our rentals in Oakland. I have an assistant helping me part time to do showings, tenant relations etc. but I self-manage and feel that I do a much better job than the PMs and leasing agents locally.