Is anyone else having issues with getting decent tenants to even inquire about your properties? I go through some really heavy times with inquiries (most are total nonsense) and then periods of no one reaching out at all.

I am not getting some weird calls now and they are all "desperate" to find a place.

I know this isn't going to be "just me" and I'm "OK" with waiting until I find the right tenant but holy cow this is bad!!!

I agree with NE, particularly this time of year. Got one on the market now 60 days and I don't expect to have it rented until April. I think a higher vacancy reserve is definitely in order along with moderation in rent. On the latter, I wouldn't rent to most at any rent level though.

It took 3 months to rent a nice B class house last fall.

I finally found a great tenant.

An empty rental is better than a problem tenant.

What is your niche tenant? How are you marketing for that tenant? Are you treating your marketing with an on/off switch or more as a facet (throttle it more or less to regulate the flow)?

Definitely depends on the unit. A larger family home will take longer and in certain seasons will be harder to rent. People with school-age kids don't want to move around the holidays or when school is in session. Winter is also a huge factor, I would imagine. Who wants to move in the winter? In Canada, everyone moves July 1st - it's just the custom.

As I have said elsewhere here, I am now at the end of month four trying to fill a unit. Fortunately I started 2 months before tenants left and am at the end of the early release period. Most recent prospect to pass prescreen is looking to move in April. I said why don't you look at the apt and if you decide to apply then maybe we can meet in the middle, w a mid march lease start. We set up a time and they went crickets on me.

I've had a couple of criminals fill out the inquiry form. searching online one robbed a local jewelery store a few years back and the other was busted in a drug distribution ring. Neither mentioned a gap in rental history.

Ken,

I fear for newer and casual landlords.

We've had it easy for the last few years. We ALL must adapt and adjust our methods to our current climate.

MARKETING is the key to reach the better candidates.

Online is how people shop and how they apply. Start with updating the rental - colors, carpet-free, up to date appliance...

Your photos must look great. Well lighted, wide angle lens, virtual staging...gotta stand out from the crowd and look desirable.

Seamless application process. Remove the hurdles and steps.

Like NE, charge an app fee so you get paid to screen the deadbeats. (I don't bother pre-screening, just submit an app.)

BRAD

Another thought...

Many LLs refuse to do or provide certain things like disposals, dishwashers, appliances, old colors...

Examine if these methods might be the reason the good candidates are not applying. Does our place look clean and up to date?

New construction is our competition.

Just a thought.

I see the turn in the market being driven by higher vacancy rates, lowered rent and newbies lowering standards and then getting burned by bad tenants wrecking places. None of this was factored in as prices spiked post COVID. There's absolutely an adjustment coming.

I've had two "bandit" inquiries in the last week. One was a phone call about the burned out now duplex that we have not really gotten started on yet and the other was for our sfh that is completely finished.

BRAD/NE, it would be a monetary loss here in New York to charge application fees for everyone including the deadbeats because we are only allowed to charge $20 an app and screening costs much more than that.

With "Good Cause" looming again (its back on the floor at the NYS Assembly and Senate...Rs again shot themselves in the foot jettisoning Santos--meanwhile Melendez in NJ is still in but I digress) you need to get rid of any iffy tenants now and continue to be extremely selective.

Churn and Burn will no longer work bc there will be no "Churn" other than evictions taking 6 months to quite conceivably years.

In my little part of the world everything takes a while to trickle down to us.

From fashion trends to new restaurants.

I have had great luck with filling thus far. Newest tenant paid the rent and deposit online close to a week before I was done with the place. I called the electric company to tell them to expect her and read the meter out only to find out that she had already been there that morning.

I know I am lucky and that it will trickle down to me eventually though.

Headed back to the big rehab. Need to decide if I want to hold or sell. I have a tenant in place that wants this one, then I have to cycle them thru, rehab theirs and start looking again.

I feel so bad for those that can't find a good tenant for months on end. I agree better empty than a bad tenant.

WMH, I wholeheartedly agree! They can give the nearest intersection or a neighborhood description if there is

one. Example "The Beechwood neighborhood" or " the historical district" etc. Nowadays it is foolhardy to list the exact street address. I told several agencies that I cannot use their services for ads because they refuse to mask the exact street address such as TurboTenant.

In a medium rental property, around 20 units, other tenants got the "word" that someone is moving from a 1 bedroom. Some of the other tenants contacted "friends" that they should look at the property/unit and get an application from the owner.

I received many calls and asked the current tenant to show the unit. The unit is in great shape so I got many completed applications with all supporting documents.

Not one applicant fancied my eye, financially. I may have been impressed with their looks, skills, professional career, none of them met my list of requirements. AND this was at the Lower rental rate, a steel.

I turned them all down without even having to run their credit/background reports.

I then listed my rental, with a professionally done flyer and began advertising. One the internet. Thru rental listings, etc. NO SIGN OUT! Don't want to attract passers by.

With in half a week I collected over a Dozen applications from single people, couples, parent/child and others.

It was like a pie cut into pieces. Some have good credit, over my 720 target. Some had savings, over $25,000 in savings (non retirement). And others had the right income, 3-times the rent. But most had to service their debt.

SO I ran only the top 4 applicants that could weather a storm.

The one that had a new car with a $600 monthly payments/insurance, killed her chances at qualification. Other also had issues. So I was really down to two.

#1 had a hopper. Every year or two moved.

#2 stayed 3 to 5 years, only moved because of work. She had two jobs with W-2 forms. One job was going on 7 years that brought in 60% of her earning. But she was self employed and made enough at that career even in the bad months, sometimes doing quite well. But her savings didn't show a winner. So I asked, "what's going on"? She would lend money to friends and never get paid back. So with permission I took her cellphone and called her friends, I asked "Katy need the move-in fee's for her new apartment. Katy said that you would be able to help her with that"? The phone then went dead and Katy just found out her friends were talking advantage of her.

I told Katy that I would rent to her, but only on 1 condition. We open up a "investment" account at a local investment/retirement firm and she fund that account with the money she normally gave to friends, like $2,000 per month.