First Property Investment Rental

[Allison Nguyen]

Hello, 

I just bought my first property investment in Feb 2018 and have been struggling greatly to find a renter. My investment property is about 15 minutes from energy corridor and 10 minutes from City Centre. It's a great location. The property was slightly flooded and when I bought it, it was fully renovated. It has 2 bedrooms and 2.5 baths. I have a positive mold inspection and foundation report. My house was appraised $30,000 higher than the buying price. In my subdivision, there are currently 6 other properties for rent. This area had no problem with finding a renter in the past before hurricane Harvey. When hurricane Harvey hit, a lot of houses got flooded and their all the tenants moved out at once. Now all houses are finished with renovation at the same time and that is the reason why there are many units are available for rent currently. The contract with my real estate will end in a few days and I am thinking of not using a real estate agent. I want to know if you have a good chance of finding tenants without using a real estate agent? If yes, can you please let me know your methods? This is my first time buying an investment property to diversify my investment portfolio and I am starting to have cold feet. I am not sure if I made the right choice by buying this investment property and put myself under stress for the past months. Please share your thoughts and experiences. Thank you

[Jeremy Taggart]

@Allison Nguyen Post it on zillow which will advertise it to a bunch of different house websites. Also put on craigslist. Yard signs, potentially facebook ads, try the newspaper if that is relevant in your area. No need to hire an agent to get it rented for you unless you don't have the time. Also make sure that your rent is in line with market. I always like to list slightly below market rent to get it rented quicker but that's just me.