Owning several rental properties I have had reasonable turnover in my rentals over the past 10 years. In that time, I have literally been able to turn properties over to new renters within a week, even days of receiving notice from the previous tenant. Simply placed an ad on Kijiji and wait for the texts to come in, arrange viewings etc. Today, I am sitting on 2 properties that have been advertised for about 3-4 weeks, and the response is quite frosty, by comparison. Had viewings on them both, but I am competing with a large number of rental properties that have recently become available, as well as home builders offering new homes (they now cannot sell) up for rent. In short, there are a lot of options out there for renters.
It often brings a wry smile to my face when I read Thomas "Cash is King - Cash flow is Queen" analogy, but my question is how long do you wait? How long do you wait to adjust rental prices down? How much of an adjustment is required, and how do you know the right amount, in the absence of local market rental statistics? Is it better to hold out for 2-3 months on a vacant property, than to lock into a year long lease with a 15-20% mark down? If the economy rebounds in 17, then will I regret not having a kneejerk reaction to the present slump.
Also, how should I interpret hits on a Kijiji ad? My typical go to website for advertising residential rentals. If I see 40-50 page hits without a call, then is that reason to lower my rental rate? In the past, I have simply deleted and reinserted, or bumped existing ads to increase exposure.
Perhaps I should ask what kind of response and vacancy problems others on this forum have experienced lately. What adjustments or marketing tactics have you used to generate more interest in available rentals? Interested to see what discussion this can generate.
Should point out that I live in an Oil economy both in terms of production and out of province employment. It is not Alberta, but as with Alberta, the ass has fallen out of the local economy. Real estate prices have levelled, sales have dropped, and house prices are likely set to adjust downward from all time (unprecedented) highs.
It often brings a wry smile to my face when I read Thomas "Cash is King - Cash flow is Queen" analogy, but my question is how long do you wait? How long do you wait to adjust rental prices down? How much of an adjustment is required, and how do you know the right amount, in the absence of local market rental statistics? Is it better to hold out for 2-3 months on a vacant property, than to lock into a year long lease with a 15-20% mark down? If the economy rebounds in 17, then will I regret not having a kneejerk reaction to the present slump.
Also, how should I interpret hits on a Kijiji ad? My typical go to website for advertising residential rentals. If I see 40-50 page hits without a call, then is that reason to lower my rental rate? In the past, I have simply deleted and reinserted, or bumped existing ads to increase exposure.
Perhaps I should ask what kind of response and vacancy problems others on this forum have experienced lately. What adjustments or marketing tactics have you used to generate more interest in available rentals? Interested to see what discussion this can generate.
Should point out that I live in an Oil economy both in terms of production and out of province employment. It is not Alberta, but as with Alberta, the ass has fallen out of the local economy. Real estate prices have levelled, sales have dropped, and house prices are likely set to adjust downward from all time (unprecedented) highs.
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