This is likely the most common question asked of companies that handle full-time property management and/or one-time, upfront only, placement services for landlords. The short & easy answer is always, ‘whatever a tenant is willing to pay for rent’. The longer and more eloquent response is that quite a few factors all play a part in determining the pricing sweet spot for your vacancy. Let’s dig into a couple of these components and discuss in more detail.
Spend a little time poking around on heavily trafficked syndicate/aggregator websites which allow us to geographically pull similar properties. This also allows us to view those in similar price ranges as well as some with similar amenities. This info gives us a good range to consider, but also realize that if you’re pulling them up to view so will everyone else (read this is your competition). How many days has that similar property been listed? This gives great insight as well as if any price drops are displayed for this particular property. Does it make sense to list at a very similar price or go lower to hopefully get more inquiries when being ‘shopped’? I would always encourage dipping slightly below your closest competition as you want their attention on your property first as they’re most likely going to reach out to schedule a tour!
Once you’ve zeroed in on that price to list for rent, the immediate measuring stick then becomes how many inquires your property generates daily. This is the first metric to analyze, and if priced well, should yield at least 3+ inquiries per day. After you discover this number, then looking to the more important data of how many convert into tours is critical. 3-4 inquires a day without any tours getting booked is a problem. 3-4 inquiries a day with every single one booking a tour is also a problem! I’ll explain more and dive deeper in our next ‘bite-sized blog’!