First investment property, need some advice.

[Paige Boles]

My husband and I bought our first rental property in Bentonville, AR over the summer. It took several months to remodel. We listed the property almost 4 weeks ago. Initially, we priced too high, but have lowered the price. The median rental price is $1300 in our area. Currently it is listed at $1275. Deposit $1275 and pet fee of $250. It is walking distance to an elementary, middle and high school. Less than 2 miles from the Wal-Mart home office.

We have it listed on TurboTenant and Facebook market place. We've had a ton of interest and show it almost daily, however, it has not been leased yet.  We are new to this. Is this typical? Any suggestions? 

[Ron Brady]

@Paige Boles

Congratulations on making the purchase and placing the house on the market.  As context for you, my wife and I started as rental real estate investors early last year and we now own and rent out four homes.  Our first property was completely flooded by a contractor while we were renovating it and thus it took us quite some time, and pain, to get it going.  I share that story to encourage you to stick through this rough patch.  We just renewed that first tenant with a rent increase amidst COVID.

Two thoughts:

1) We're finding that during the summer we saw lots of interest and applicants for our vacancies and now that we're to late Sept/early Oct, we've seen a significant drop-off in interest and applicants for our one vacancy.  It is striking how the demand has dropped for us.  Not sure if your market is the same, but that might be part of what is happening.

2) As an avid forum reader, I've read that when there is interest based on advertising that does not convert into applications, it could be that there is a difference between the experience buyers are seeing in online photos and when they see the property.  This could be anything--neighborhood, neighbors, room sizes, who is showing the house, even how the house smells.  You may know all of this, but for showings we arrive 90 min prior and clean the place top to bottom--cobwebs, spray bleach (helps during COVID), put in citrus scented plug-ins, open every blind, turn on every light and my wife and I are both there and smiling, conveying a family/homey vibe, which is our branding.  Hope this might help.