All Forum Posts by: Anthony Marini

 Katie,

Thanks again for the response!  i think the best course of action is probably to continue to provide the online application but to also give the option of a paper application.  I originally liked the idea of the online application because it would slightly reduce my time to enter in everyone's info into the credit/background check. At this point I would rather spend the time if it means getting tenant applications.

We are currently using Cozy, which seems very similar to the website you have linked in your signature.  It provides a credit/background check and a way for them to enter in their employment and rental history.  They also collect rent for free (or with a credit card fee if applicable) and they post listings to several sites as well.  I'll keep your website in mind as well though.

Thanks again for the help!

Anthony

 Hi Andrew!

I have been reaching out to people that have been to showings and have gotten these responses:

• The bedrooms are too small. (x2)
• The house is too small.
• The house is too old.
• I'm concerned that the evaporative cooler will not adequately cool the basement.

I have a few people that I just gave showings to a few days ago so I'll probably call the rest tomorrow.  I wanted to give them a few days buffer between to not come off as spammy.

Thanks!

Anthony

Hey Peter!,

Thanks for all of the help!  I will talk to the wife about reducing the price $50 or so and see if that helps.  I have been following up with the people I've done showings with and so far their answers have been the following:

• The bedrooms are too small. (Two of these comments)
• The house is older than what we are looking for.
• The house we are moving out of is much larger so this house feels too small in comparison.
• I'm concerned that the basement will get too hot in the summer. (The property has an evaporative cooler on the roof)

The feedback I have been getting all seems to be based on stuff that we can't really improve on the house. However, it may be pointing to the rent being too high since people are pretty consistently expecting a larger house.

It seems to me like the best course of action would be to take the weekend to repaint, fix up a few items, and do a good cleaning. Then we can take some better pictures without some of the clutter and repost the ads. I'll talk to my agent about having some professional photos taken as well.  I've got some softboxes that I can use to improve the lighting, but I only have my phone camera.

 Thanks again!

Anthony

 Hello Heidi!

Thanks so much for the advice! I agree and I think our best course of action is probably to paint this weekend and then update our listing.  When we do take the next pictures I'll make sure to do a better job de-cluttering as well.  The pictures were done with the windows all open and all of the lights on, but I'll see if I can get some better shots.  I'm currently using my phone camera because it is the best I've got, unfortunately. However, I do have some softboxes that I can set up to get some better shots.

Thanks again!

Anthony

Hello Katie!

I really appreciate your reply!  I have not scheduled any showings for this weekend, so I think what we might do is take a few days to paint everything, fix any minor issues, and really give the property another good scrubbing.  I also feel like the price we are asking is fair (I too used RentoMeter) but we might reduce it to see if that helps as well. 

We've been pointing people towards Cozy.Co for them to do an online application which runs a credit/Background check for us.  I'm concerned that this might be one of the reasons why we haven't gotten any actual applications.  Do you think it would be better to hand out a paper application and run our own credit/background checks?  I'm concerned that forwarding them to a website may be the reason why we haven't gotten any applications.

Thanks again!

Anthony

Good morning!

My wife and I recently purchased a new home and are planning on making our current home a rental property.  I have listed the property on Zillow/Trulia/Hotpads as well as Craigslist.  We have what I would consider a decent listing with 21 pictures, detailed information, and we allow pets.  I posted the listings 10 days ago and have been getting numerous emails and calls and have done about 12 showings.  However, none of the showings have resulted in an application to rent the place.

We currently live in the home and are planning to move out next month. We were hoping to get a lease signed so that we have someone move in after we move out and do some repairs.  We also need a signed lease agreement in order for our lender to approve the loan.

If anyone has any suggestions on ways that I can improve the listing or the house in order to make it easier to find a renter please let me know!

Things I am considering:

• Painting all of the colored rooms a neutral color.
• Re-wording the ads to make them more appealing or to include more information.
• Lowering the rent by $50.
• Raising the rent by $200 or so but including gas/water/electricity.
• Getting a storage unit for a month to hold everything but the bare necessities so that the home is more bare until we can move.

Here is the listing. Thanks in advance for all of your help!