All Forum Posts by: Nat Rojas

@Blake Dailey hey Blake good to hear from you! its hard to say which route is best. Turnover/vacancy can certainly be a cash flow killer so youd have to compare what the total expected vacancy/turnover could cost vs. keeping the unit rented for less than its full potential to see which is most cost effective. You could also consider an 18 month lease to avoid the vacancy for a while and still end in the summer, but then of course you lock yourself into lower rent for that entire time. Hope that helps or at least gives some additional options to consider!

@Nathanael Rojas hey Nathanael, I dont personally own anything in Baltimore, but last time I talked to a PM there he told me he always lowers the rent by 100-200 if they have to find a tenant in the wintertime. Less people are moving at this time of year when its dark, cold, in the middle of the school year/holidays etc. Id recommend trying to find someone to rent it for a little less on a 6 month lease then try to get into a cycle of renting for a year starting in the summer. Best of luck! Kyle

If they are collecting 1 months rent then they BETTER be doing more than throwing it up on their website and Zillow!

I'll second this. If your PM didn't put it on the MLS as part of their standard marketing package then I would look for a PM who is more professional and serious about getting your property leased.

 Great feedback, Joe. This definitely helps me understand what my expectations should be of a Property Manager. Through all the interviews and narrowing down to a top 4, it's still amazing to see how different they are.

@Nathanael Rojas I can tell you personally it’s most likely the time of the year nobody moves during the busiest time of the year. Ask yourself would you want to move in the cold and when family is coming in town probably not if yo think it will help lower your rent but it’s for sure this time of the year.

@Nat Rojas to me putting a property on MLS is part of the reason I pay a leasing fee and is expected every time, especially if you don't get traction early.

I am assuming 1st month’s rent to the company upon execution of the lease?

Tbh this is a conversation you should of had with him before putting the house up for rent. Good PM’s (Outside of the gentrifying areas) in Baltimore are hard to come by.

Regarding pictures, they are sloppy, but I used cell phone pics for my listing - just made sure to showcase all the fine points and how big the rooms are, etc

I am on the train and bored, so here is my 2 cents:

1) House is small, therefore your tenant pool will be small.

2) I don't see this on the MLS, if I had a tenant, how would I know about it?

3) An even smaller house on the same street that is a 2/2, rented last December for 1250 (From the pics it did look nicer though). It took them 33 days but they got it rented. I listed something for rent in West Baltimore and we are in the process of finalizing payments, took 40 days but got my landlords number. Things do rent in the “off months.”

Final thoughts: I think your rent is reasonable, your PM isn’t working hard enough.

@Nat Rojas I don't know what you expect them to do besides wait for online leads, you can't force people to rent your property, it is probably a mixture of seasonality and rent too high.  If you started too high, you lost most of your potential tenants in the first two weeks, now that you got to Thanksgiving things are really slow until after the new year.