As rent decreases, public interest increases exponentially

If you have advertised your rental, what feedback cues indicate that it is overpriced? If it has been advertised repeatedly for ten days with no showings, it is overpriced. If ten showings resulted with no one signing, it is overpriced. So how far should you drop it?

Here's an example. I used to rent out rooms in my own house. I posted an ad on craigslist for $600/mo. No one responded. I lowered it to $550 and probably about 15 people responded within three days. About six came to check it out, but no takers. When I lowered the price to $525, the floodgates opened. Within less than a day I had to take the ad down to stop the bombardment of replies. Over 40 people responded in about 12 hours. The first person to see the place ended up moving in.

The point I'm making about price reduction is this. With each incremental reduction in rent price, the public interest in your property grows exponentially, not linearly. Each $25 reduction brings greater interest to your property than the last $25 reduction.

Also, public interest is a much better indicator of market rent than comparable properties. If a nearly identical property to yours next door is renting for $1000/mo, how long are you going to stand behind your price of $1000/mo if no one is responding to your advertising?

I don't want to wait a long time for my property to rent. I also don't want to show a bunch of people the place who don't ultimately end up signing. So, I make things easy for myself and set the rent price for maximum profit/public interest balance. I wouldn't wait long before reducing the price, as the public interest level will dictate to you, very quickly, what the best price is.