No Applications, Rental Property

[Steven Groshong]

Hi all,

I recently made the jump to being a landlord and I'm having some trouble getting off the ground with tenants.

As of today, the house has been on the market for 43 days and I've reduced the rent from 2800 to 2500 over the past 30 days. The property is in Oakland, CA.

I have a property manager who does open houses (1hr windows on Saturdays or Sundays) and individual showings however I still don't have any applications for the property. 

The property was recently renovated (new appliances, upgraded electrical, windows, landscaping, etc) 3 bedroom - 1 bathroom home but it's in what I think you call a "Class C" neighborhood here (not the worst but also not a war zone). 

Because it's been on the market for 1.5 months now, I'm entertaining opening up applications to section 8 tenants (with 3 room vouchers).

I don't want to go much lower than I'm already at ($2500) because I don't want to lose money on the place (mortgage + maintenance + insurance + utilities + etc) but I'm trying to figure out what I need to do to get the place rented.

Do you have any suggestions for how to get the place rented?

Thank you!

[Brian Garlington]

@Steven Groshong

I'm going to give you a news flash straight from Hedes......and a solution.  That is a "D" neighborhood. I live just a few blocks from there where I am Househacking a Duplex. 

You've already come up with your solution by the way. Advertise it on GoSection8 and you will get between $2,700 to $2,800/mo AND you won't be subject to rent control :-)

Zillow and Rentometer tell you that you should get $2,700 to $2,800/mo....and when I advertised on Zillow and CL I had COUNTLESS people reach out to me through Zillow THAT DID NOT READ THE AD. They see the price for a 3bd and simply call or text. Then when they get to the neighborhood they are put off. Then when I advertised on Go Section8 I had COUNTLESS people reach out that DID read the ad. I have 2 section 8 rentals here in the bay area and 2 in Cleveland by the way in addition to 4 other rentals that are NOT section 8. The good thing about Section 8 is that because the person's rent is subsidized by the government, they are NOT subject to the restrictions of rent control....even in Oakland. 

If you're worried about what a potential renter may do....here's what I did when I advertised on GoSection 8......

No Smokers of any kind,....period....no vaping, no marijuana, no e-cigarettes, NOTHING.

No Animals or Pets, PERIOD (Of course if someone told me they had a Service Animal then I of course showed them the property because by law I had to).

No Evictions, EVER

No Felonies, EVER

1st Month's rent is due BEFORE move in.

I could care less about their credit score because I know Sect. 8 is paying most of their rent anyway.

I also let them know that there will be a background check that THEY pay for through SmartMove

Also, in the ad it stated that (their portion of the) rent is collected electronically through E-RentPayment so if they don;t have a bank account then they need to have one before applying.

Still got TONS of inquiries. I do NOT do open houses for rentals because in my mind they are useless....someone calls tonight on Tuesday, they are excited to see the property and you have to tell them, I'm showing it between 12 noon and 1pm on Saturday?  Please....

I tell them I can show it to them tommorow at 5:15 or 7:00....which is better for you? They pick a time and THEN each person that calls after that I simply mention the same thing....I do NOT tell them others will be there,....they simply figure that out when they get there and see that someone else is there .....It creates crazy demand.

I've done this twice in this "D" neighborhood I live in and once in the "C+" neighborhood the other rental is at in Concord.....works beautifully and I have no smokers, or animals or pets in either of my Section 8 rentals here.