HELP!! VACANT RENTAL!

[Maya Torres]

Ok guys. So maybe my title is a little bit dramatic. I’ve had my rental unit listed for almost a week now. It’s gotten the most views out of other comparables in the neighborhood, few have reached out for a viewing, and 1 unqualified application.

Backstory...

Rental is listed for $875 in Norfolk, VA by the base (just in case people are familiar). Utilities paid by tenant. Central heat and AC. Washer dryer in unit. It's not the prettiest piece of property but it's well very maintained. Not raggedy.

1.5 years ago I listed my other unit for rent February time frame. At that time I listed it for $875, tenants paid gas/electricity, landlord (me) paid water, sewage, trash. (Not happening again. Sewage/trash is doable but water..no) There was no central heat and AC at that time.

I received a lot of contacts off of this. Now it didn’t actually rent till I dropped the price from $895 to $875. It was rented in 2 weeks. I’m not on the same track this time around. I also had a For Rent sign in front but I received many contacts online.

My question is...

What should I do? Wait it out few more weeks? Drop the rent? Put up a For Rent sign? List on more than 3 platforms? Zillow, Trulia, Hotpads is where I am now. I had good contact last time so I didn’t think I needed to do any other websites. Could it be that last time the landlord paid water and that was a good incentive? Should I drop my price even though there’s now central cooling? Who knows what’s going on peeps. I’m gonna move forward figure out life but I thought I’d get some suggestions first or maybe some trend analysis I’m unaware of because I’m fairly new to the game? 2 years in. Help me out please.

[Jennifer T.]

Also try Facebook Marketplace.  It's not "quality" traffic.  The biggest percentage, at least for me, of people sending an "Is it still available?" IM and then crickets.  Also a higher rate of no-shows from people who say they are coming.  Though I do "open house" style showings, so it isn't a huge deal.  But it's at least a lot of traffic.  Much more exposure then I get from anywhere else. 

I agree with @Tom McCoy.  No longer including the water is now an extra expense for the tenant that also needs to be factored into the rental price.  For example, if rental prices around you are about the same for similar.  But they include water and you don't, most tenants will opt for the houses that include water.

With that said, I agree with you.  All my units have separate meters, including water, and tenants are responsible for all of their own utilities.

Something else to keep in mind.  I don't know if this is true in Norfolk, but a lot of jurisdictions can attach unpaid water bill liens to the house.  So, if this is true in your area and something tenants are responsible for, keep an eye on it.

Thankfully, that is not true in Orleans Parish (county) where my rentals are.  I had a tenant whose toilet was running for over a month, before she finally contacted me to have it fixed.  And why did she finally contact me?  Because she got a water bill that was over $1K for just that one month.  And THAT'S one of the reasons I don't include water in my rentals.  When I finally evicted her about a year later, apparently that bill was a catalyst for her and she had stopped paying the water/sewer bill completely.  The water meter had been yanked when I got the property back.  The utility company rep probably shouldn't have told me, but they let it slip that her bill had been over $2800 when they finally took the meter away.