Struggling to rent Duplex unit

[Brian Morreale]

I purchased a duplex last year in a university town, but not intending for it to be a college rental. The duplex had a vacant unit and another under lease till July of 2019. I was able to remodel a half bath and paint the unit and get it rented within a couple months after purchase. The second unit came vacant in July and was in slightly worse condition. Performed a more thorough rehab, remodelling all bathrooms (3), replacing carpet and flooring and fully repainted. 

The unit has been available for rent for about a 3 weeks now at the same rent as the other unit and is in much better condition, but struggling to find quality tenants. We posted through rentlinx which hits a bunch of other sites. We have lots of interest, but no one is submitting applications. It seems our criteria (the same as Brandon's tenant criteria) for tenants may be making tenants reluctant to submit applications. We do not charge for submitting applications either. I struggle with lowering the rent because it seems that rent is appropriate for the unit size and location. The rent is the same as the previous lease and the adjoining unit.

Any thoughts on what we can do attract more serious tenants?

[Andrew Gingerich]

I would say this. Do not modify your qualifications. It is better to reduce the cost of rent then give on your requirements of 3X gross income compared to monthly rent, no criminal background, or whatever you have. Taking a little less in rent is worth the piece of mind of not having a tenant that gives you constant headaches, have to pay for an eviction, is late on rent etc. 

In terms of lowering rent. Let's say you lower your rents by 50 bucks a month. That'd be 600 a year in gross rents lost. But if the unit rents for 600-1000 a month (making a guess), having it vacant for another month is worse since you'll have lost more revenue that year compared to lowering the price 50 bucks. 

Final consideration. As the summer winds down and you get closer to T-giving and Christmas it becomes harder, in most markets, to find tenants who want to move. 

My advice, lower the rents a little even if you think you're at market rates. 

Good luck

Andrew