I had a vacant  unit that I was so desperate to rent out to anyone hat i literally had my property manager heading over to show it to a woman that had TWO Pit Bulls, Who was having "a hard time finding a place" that occasionally smoked (I don't have smokers in any of my rentals) and was on disability.   

Brian, I wear many hats but I am a realtor/PM in Middlesex County.

I'm a Realtor who would love to put on a hard hat & get to work in the grit of the property transformation.

It's called Hard Hat Investor Tours.

I'm sure that for some of you guys this is an old hat,  you are the ones I would love to talk about this stuff with. 

@Don BlevinsWelcome to BP and a tip of the hat for not letting a layoff send you into a downward spiral!

Maybe make the house spectacular but not focus on yard too much other than cleaning, or maybe, windows arent perfect, but not junk etc....but make sure it has the cosmetic appealNow my realtor hat on...once you've done everything, now you're just chasing price you would like.

I honestly don't know the answer, but I don't think I'd hang my hat on the fact that they have been rare for so long.

So I go over today and figure I'll throw my hat in the ring again by putting in an offer and just see what happens.

It's daunting until you've done exactly one, then it's old hat.