All Forum Posts by: Lacey S.

Thanks @Account Closed. I have wondered it there was something about my behavior. It might be that I'm 30 and own the house? Several people have expressed shock/surprise when they meet me there and asked if I owned the house, at first I was honest but now sometimes I tell them my parents own it. The age issue will eventually take care of itself :-)

Usually, I greet them and tell them to take a look around and ask me if they have any questions. After they look around a bit I will come to them and ask again if any questions, point out the laundry, etc. I have loosened up our requirements also since we haven't found anything (ie we were asking 650 credit, now just saying "no overdue accounts or evictions"), we're allowing dogs/cats with smaller fees than others in the area.

I think some issue is the neighborhood isn't as nice as the house. The house is almost fully renovated, so the pictures look amazing online, so I'm attracting lots of younger couples or graduate students who come with their moms. The street in one direction is nice, lots of little houses built in the 1960s and all the surrounding blocks are decent/nice but my house is right next to 5-6 small apartment buildings that are 12-18 units. My house is on the corner, and there are 2 apartment buildings on the opposite side of the street and one that is next door and goes up the cross street (ie forms and L with my house). The apartments don't look run-down but they are also not the greatest.

I already have a washer/dryer but I think I am going to have the alarm system reconnected and pay for it for the tenant. I called ADT last night and it's $49/mo and there is already a new system at the house. Do you think an alarm will help?

As an update, I'm still looking for a tenant ("kids" flaked out). I had a few more showings at the $1250 price point last weekend but no one moved forward to an application. I think the block is turning people off but there's not much I can do about that (frankly I've personally lived way sketchier places so I'm surprised!)

Yesterday, I dropped the price to $1195 as suggested by @Chris Eaker and I have 4 showings lined up for tonight. I am worried the lower price point will attract more section 8 inquires (I've had a few already) but we'll see. Wish me luck!

One other question I have, do y'all follow up with everyone you show to and send an application? Or only those that asked? I had been only sending it to those who asked (using an online application, so no print outs) but last weekend I decided to send it to everyone who came and looked.

@Account Closed the house is not actually in Carrboro - there the price would be higher! But I take your point. :-) More than specific price advice, I was wondering if 2 weeks with no renter after a lot of shows could be "normal" or could be "too high of a price." It could be that in my market it's normal to take 3-4 weeks to rent a place even at an acceptable price.

Thanks everyone for the tips and advice, I will keep trying. I will be out of town this weekend, so I will think about dropping to $1195 maybe mid to end of next week, if the "kids" don't work out. I have two more potential showings tonight.

@Percy N. thanks for the suggestion. I'm scheduling showings in the evenings and on weekends, 15 minutes apart. I can't do them during the day because I'm at work but this hasn't seemed to be a problem. I also tried an open house last weekend, only 1 person came.

I got an application from one showing last night but I'm not sure I should accept them, they seemed like nice kids but the asked if they can paint, build a fire pit in the backyard, have a pet bird and so on....I will see what the application says but it doesn't look good.

Thanks for the tips Sue, I really appreciate it. I just posted a 2 bedroom+den variation and I'll see how that goes. I do have some variations of the ad on CL where I list the Univ in the headline or that it's close to the hospital (darn CL you have to have a bunch of ads in circulation!). I rotate between fenced yard, newly renovated, university and hospital to keep the ads looking fresh.

It's not really in a university area per se, though I would love to have law, medical students! They stay 3-4 years, study and go! I've thought about putting up flyers at the hospital, so I'll pursue that and I'll look at Facebook pages.

@Account Closed - those are good suggestions, I was thinking about promoting it as 2 bedroom +bonus room; or 2 bedrooms + den. I do feel it's better for a couple or smaller family (ie 1 kid) than 2-3 kids, because it's only 1 bathroom. Ok I will think about it, maybe list it both ways on Craigslist. I did adjust my rental criteria as several people told me they did not have a 650 score, now I just say credit check.

My fees seem to be in the same ballpark or lower than other places (especially pet fees!).

Oh and I'm mostly showing it evenings and weekends because I work full-time, so far that has been ok for everyone.

This is what my ad says now (with minor variations), suggestions appreciated!

Come and see this 3 bedroom, 1 bath house with a large fenced yard - great for kids and dogs! This house offers convenient access to XXX University (10 mins), XXX Hospital (5 mins) and lots of shopping including Costco, Bed Bath & Beyond, Petsmart, Kroger & more just minutes away. And no carpet anywhere!

Rent is $1250/month and $1250 deposit required.

Features:
3 bedrooms
1 bathroom
New Granite countertops
Lawn service
New wood laminate flooring - no carpet!
Dishwasher
Huge fenced backyard
Outdoor storage shed
Washer/Dryer
Convenient online rent payments
Off-street parking

Rental requirements:
Credit Check (students may need qualified parent co-signer)
Verified income of 3x the monthly rent
Positive reference from previous landlords
Clean criminal and rental history
Each tenant over 18 must complete an online application with credit and background check ($40 fee)
Maximum occupancy: 5 people

Pet Policy:
All pets must be pre-approved prior to moving in, will consider both cats and dogs. $200 pet security fee; $50 for second pet. Maximum of two pets total. No dogs under 1 year of age or over 50 lbs.

@Chris Eaker, I was sort of thinking to have the alarm system reconnected, since the neighborhood isn't amazing. Maybe I will look into that next week depending on the showings I have tonight and what the feedback is. It's been on the market 3 weeks in total but really only 2 weekends. ok next week I will think about coming down maybe to 1225 and then 1195. Thank you!

@Stacie Johnson - good questions, thank you!

The layout is normal, except I suspect the 3rd bedroom was converted from a dinning room so maybe it's not very desirable as a 3rd bedroom, but more like a large office. All the bedrooms are big enough for a queen bed. There is a dishwasher, there isn't a garage (but garages not so common here) but there is a sizeable exterior shed for storage.

There aren't a lot of 3 bed homes on the market nearby....there are some luxury apartments for 1400, there are some houses closer to the Univ but also smaller that are like 1600-1800. One house a few blocks one way is 1250 also and a house a few blocks the other way is 1600.

My husband and I recently bought our first house to rent, it was a big step taken after much research and thanks in part to what I have learned from BP!

I've been marketing it for several weeks (posting a few times a day to craigslist, it's on zillow, truilia, hotpads, realtor.com, ect). The first week we had it listed on the high side for the area, $1350 and had 4 showings (2 good prospects). Since we knew we were on the high end and no one took the bait, we came down to 1250 which is more the area I was expecting/want to be and we decided to offer lawn service (60-80/month depending on the season) because a few of the comments from prospects were about taking care of the lawn.

With the lower price, I've had probably 20+ inquiries and arranged 3-4 showings, no takers. Only a few people this whole time have even asked for applications. I tried an open house and only 1 person attended. The majority of the inquiries did not respond when I replied to their inquiry, most did not ask any questions so I would just offer to show it to them at X time and include our rental reqs.

The house is renovated - there is laminate flooring thorough out, granite countertops, nice new paint. I wouldn't say 100% the newest everything but 90% redone. A fabulous fenced yard and we're allowing pets. The neighborhood is C+ I would say. Our street has little 1970s houses on half and smaller  apartment complexes on half (some of which are section 8). It is rated as "low crime" on Trulia.

Do we need to lower the price more or is this a case of where I just need to wait for the right person? We are still projected to make a small profit at 1100/mo so we can afford to go down, I just don't know if the price is the issue or we need to wait a little longer...Thanks for your insight!

I am happy to report that I have solved my DTI problem by talking to a mortgage broker and I am now under contract on a SFH! Thanks for the feedback everyone!

I like the idea of leaving a roll TP and some simple cleaning supplies! I might do this, everyone appreciates a roll of TP when they are moving and haven't unpacked any yet! And maybe it won't get them to treat the place any better but relationships are also important in business.