Hard time getting my property rented

[David Ingram]

Hi, Bought my single family home back in May, spent 3.5 months rehabbing it(back and forth from Columbus to Dayton on weekends only). The house has been on the market for going on a month and a half. It is getting foot traffic, but no one is applying. The house is small, like 550 sq ft, but all of the homes in this neighborhood are this small. Im getting tired of paying on this mortgage, im ready to see some income. I can't sell because id lose my butt on it. I have a property manager who suggested we did first month half off as an incentive. Has anybody been in this situation before? Should I just keep at it and know itll eventually get rented? Thanks,. 

[Marcus R.]

Lots of good thoughts here. Here’s some additional advice…

1) Really evaluate dropping your rent or incentives. One month of lost rent is almost always greater than dropping $200 a month. Figure out what it’s costing you a day and start there. 

2) Increase pet limit to 50lbs. 10lbs is an extremely small pet. Would you rather someone have snakes and lizards or a medium sized golden doodle? If you’re nervous tell people you have to meet the pet but I wouldn’t automatically assume smaller equals better and larger equals worse. 

3) If landscaping is the dealbreaker just pay for it. Some tenants will half a** and only cut it every 8 weeks.