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!