So since we’re moving to a new house, we have decided to rent the home that we’re currently living in. We decided that with the market the way that it is, even if we could sell it, we couldn’t get as much as we think it’s worth.
I put a sign out front and some ads on Craigslist. We’ve had lots of interest. I think that it’s priced appropriately and we’ve gotten a lot of the work done to “pretty it up”. This is a good time of year too – lots of people moving around with the end of the school year and such.
I’d say that we’ve had 10-15 people actually show up and see the house. Many of them have taken applications. But nobody has returned them or taken the next steps. Mostly they just disappear. I used to try and follow up with people, but after thinking about it and discussing it with other landlords online, the consensus was that it was just a waste of time; if someone is interested, typically they are very aggressive about following up.
So yesterday we had 2 calls about people potentially interested in BUYING the house. And I’ve started feeling like maybe we are supposed to sell the house. Certainly if we could sell it, we could definitely use the equity that we get out of it. So I’m going to post an ad in the for sale section of Craigslist and see what happens.
I’m not really worried at this point. I always have felt like God takes care of us. I can point to several times in my life where things have maybe not happened as soon or the way that I’ve wanted to, but in the end, it always works out just fine, and usually in a better way than I’d have done it if left to my own devices. First mortgage payment on the new house is due 7/1 so we have a little more than a month before it starts to get dicey 🙂
2 responses to “Rental woes”
Your calm amazes me. I’m such a worrier. Not that that makes things any better.
I’ve got 2 duplex’s live in 1/4 of available rental space and the other 3 are available…
I’ve found that if it is a nicely kept up property you have the luxury of picking and choosing who you rent to. I agree that roughly 60-70% of people who take apps aren’t too serious and the ones that are will follow up aggressively. As for putting up posts on Craigs List, make sure that you update it daily, if it falls past the 2nd or 3rd page, most people will just skip over it. So far I’ve had the best luck with just a rental sign up in the front. It seems that the sign works best because people will drive around their desired area looking for a place to rent. With Craigs List, it’s harder to put exact location in and it may be just outside of where they really want etc etc etc. Plus with only 4 images available on CL it’s harder for someone to get a good idea of the place
So when people call, I can describe it to them and screen them that way. In the future though, I’m going to put the asking price up on the sign, so I don’t have to deal with the people that it’s out of their price range.
NOHS Marching Band Rulz!