First Time Landlord - Need help!

[John Werth]

Hello everyone! I am a first time landlord. I recently bought a SFH and am now listing it for rent this month.

About the house: The house was build in the 1950s but is in really good condition. The house is super renovated with polished hard wood floors, brand new paint job,  updated appliances and kitchen, and both bathrooms are updated and super modern. The kitchen is super modern now and probably the nicest part. The place is 3 bedroom 2 bath, 1 story. It is a little over 2000 sq feet. There is a nice yard in the front and a big yard in the back, there are tall fences on both sides of the back, and a shorter 5 foot chain link fence on the back fence that backs up to an drainage ditch/alley(residential area). The house is in a very good neighborhood with mostly families around, it is very close to a park and running trails (that have access to a big lake). I highlight this information during the tour. 

I recently listed the house on Zillow last week, and I had 20 professional pictures taken and everything that look good. The pictures were taken in the summer when the grass was super green, the grass is good in the front but not the  greatest in the back (still green and landscaped but some clovers have grown in place of the grass). I have a slight broken gutter in the back so that may turn some people off (it's not hanging down just slightly broken and off by a few inches but definitely noticeable), it is an easy fix and I plan on having someone fix it this week.  Everything else about the house looks the same as the pictures. I also had a family friend who is a realtor who recommended me to list it at $2400/month that I agreed with. I checked the comparables and the houses that are around $2000-$2200 are smaller or in a worse condition than mine. The houses that are $2600 or higher are slightly nicer on the inside or bigger than mine. So I think mine is priced adequately. 

So I first listed it on Zillow a week ago and I got about 10 calls last week and messages from interested potential tenants on Zillow. I ended up having a 3 hour Open House last Saturday and Sunday. I made sure the house smelled good, had all the lights and fans on, heater at the right temperature, blinds open, etc. I had 2 couples come each day (4 couples total). All of the couples were generally in their 30s and had a dog, so they liked a big backyard. Some of the couples made positive comments about how big the place was, but they mainly looked around and only asked a couple questions in general. They came to visit the place for 5 minutes or less. For all of the tenants I just told them they could walk around and explore themselves, and told them to ask me any questions. They usually start with the master bedroom and 2nd bedroom and work there way to me. I waited in the kitchen until they were done. When they were done they came to the kitchen and talked to me briefly about some questions about the house and I asked them what they did for a living and when they are looking to rent by, etc. for a couple of minutes  or so then left. I found it odd that the kitchen was the nicest part of the house in my opinion and they really didn't examine it or open cabinets or the fridge or anything. Maybe it was because I was in the kitchen, I should of showed them that first. 

Anyway, none of the people who came to tour have reached out to me. One of the couples I thought was very interested, I reached out to via text and got no response.

Any advice given the scenario of what I could be doing wrong? Maybe I need to show them around the house or start with the kitchen first? Maybe I should drop the rent $100? I realize I just listed it a week ago, so I need to have patience. I haven't gotten any messages or calls about my listing so far this week, unlike last week. I do not plan on ever hiring a realtor. I plan on doing more open houses this weekend as my listing still is getting around 100 views a day and it has 20 saves.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!! Thanks for reading or skimming my long post. 

[Jon Reed]

Well... sounds like you are acting like a realtor when you are doing the open house and showing them around the entire home. People don't want that.

Next time leave the people alone and let them explore and just hang in the kitchen or living room and tell them to ask any questions that they have. Only realtors do tours because they are trying to 'win over' the people visiting to become their agent.

As far as lack of interest... give it a few weeks and if you still have nothing then it is just one of a few things.

1. You are over priced

2. You do not have the right features at your price point (appliance type, utilities included, lawn care, etc)

Take a look at zillow of everything for rent in the area that competes with your property and then look at it without bias. The other properties that are at your price point may have been on the market for months...