List rental in Feb or wait until March?

[Salvador Santolucito]

It looks like my current tenants are going to likely move out. We are in mid-February and their lease expires on April 28th.

I understand that Dec-Feb are slow months for rentals and prices usually fall due to low demand. And then April-Jun are the best months to list a rental house where prices go up.

I've got 2.5 months until the lease expires. I'd love to get a new tenant in the week after the old ones move out.

If I list it now (mid February), I worry that it will sit on the market longer. And then when people look at the listing they'll see it has been up for a long time and be turned off. So I was contemplating waiting a month until the market was "hotter" (mid-March for example).

This is a 2000 sq ft single family home in a nice family neighborhood in Austin, TX

So what do you think?

[Nathan Gesner]

I always start marketing my rentals 30 days prior to vacancy. My lease agreement requires the tenant to participate in showings during their final 30 days. This really reduces the risk of vacancy.