Good Tenants Hard to find

[Jesse Aiken]

So, I have a big beautiful newly renovated flat in a good location that I listed a little over a week ago. I have good pictures, a nice video (uncommon for my area), am priced below the competition, and have my listing on 5 different sites. I don't even bother with a sign in the yard because the calls that come from that are even worse. I have gotten over 80 contacts that have resulted in one showing scheduled (yes ONE) with the only prospect out of 80 that I think may be a good tenant (and she is from out of town) and remains to be seen whether or not she will even show up (in my experience 1 out of 2 don't show). I invest in Erie PA and this is why I have stopped my original plan of expanding in this area...the tenant base SUCKS if you want to have good properties and good tenants while getting a good return on investment. It seems that the most success in my area  is among investors in D-class neighborhoods with D-class properties that they buy for next to nothing and their tenant base is, you guessed it...D and F-class tenants. Makes things easier when you take the first warm body that doesn't have a recent felony and government assistance to pay low rents. Maybe I just don't want it enough, but I don't think that's it; I think it's a moral issue and I just don't feel good about it. A select few are having success with A-class and student housing (with risky high-end rents that may not be sustainable in this market), but it isn't common and it's a small market and shrinking. I'm still doing well with my investments, but its a struggle. Is the middle class disappearing, or exiting the rental market? IDC how much of a discount (unless they are going to give it to me) or how high the return is, it's just not worth it to me to be a junk dealer and I would rather invest in another area/niche or make money through business and invest more passively with a slightly lower return. Earlier today I saw a post in a local REI group offering a duplex for 15k...and I don't want it. If it was a good deal, they wouldn't be offering to others; It's junk with nothing but problems and headaches. I don't see how it can work if only 1 in 100 renters are good tenants with reasonable standards. Maybe its just my market, but I'm curious if anyone else is having the same problem? 

[Dennis M.]

@Karl B.

Investing in Erie is like playing a video game set on” hard” lol I love that Karl !

As Karl indicated Erie is not the easiest or most affluent city around however it can be lucrative .rest assured there’s plenty of investors in the shadows crushing it where others fail and that can be said for any city really ! Erie has been decimated by bad trade deals and a dwindling middle class for the last twenty years . When manufacturing goes the good working class folks pack up and leave and all that’s left are old people and low income “ renters” .

Know your clientele :

The whole town is c class ( D class in some areas) other than some pocket areas on the west side ( Millcreek) You need to understand there’s not going to be young professionals ,business folks ,and nurses applying for much in this market and they will be looking for home ownership usually or condos up by the bay front . The days of the tenants being a steelworker and mom working at the local jewelry store are over . Now it is a single mom working at Wendy’s living mostly off SSI for her 7 kids . Understand this is your tenant base

Best advise I know for screening is You got to pick through the $)$t to get to the corn ! Advertise online veraciously! Use Facebook screen the profiles as Karl said . You must must be looking at that if you want to succeed in selecting a good tenant these days . Putting out for rent signs in the yard will only invite theft ! Don’t even respond to obvious bad choices thugs punks or people who’s job it is to flip burgers or mow grass . It’s not uncommon for me to get 80 responses and only a handful of decent applicants and even those are sketchy so go with your gut . It’s part of investing in the rust belt. In Erie Don’t buy 50-80k houses hoping to get 900 -1000 in rent . Buy 30- 35k duplexes and rent them for 500-550 per side instead . Your street smarts and intuition play a huge role in screening and your success in this town . An algorithm or credit score will be useless . Good luck and keep moving forward even if it looks bleak keep your head down keep pushing on

Learn to Make money in the mess: