“Rental Denial” is costly! And why your daughter may not be as good-looking as you think…

“Why is my home sitting on the market when it is priced to go?  It looks good!  I mean good enough for a rental home.”

This is akin to a father who wonders why his daughter doesn’t have a date for 8^th grade dance.  By careful analysis, he knows that her desirability boils down to three things:

1. Looks (“Well, she looks alright… the dance is in a dark venue anyway.”)
2. Personality (“Some might find her generally contrary demeanor endearing…”)
3. Intangibles (“She got a C+ in math and almost made the swim team.”)

This is much like how some landlords approach things.  They figure that the issues with their home are minor and some prospective tenant will overlook them:

1. Looks (“no one will notice the stain on the carpet and the dirty walls.”)
2. Personality- (“this 5-bedroom rental home with only 1 bathroom will bring the family closer- they should pay extra!”)
3. Intangibles (if it was good enough for me…) 

This may have been true in earlier times, but the rental competition is fierce now and your property is now competing against homes for sale (with all the repairs and cleaning done) and (gulp) newly built homes (never lived in).  The point is- Your rental home must truly look great to move in this market!

I have a friend who worked for a builder in new home sales (back when, rumor has it, people were actually buying homes…) and told me of a line she used whenever a buyer was on the fence between her never-lived in home and a resale.  “That other property is nice, but do you really want a home where you’re picking up someone else’s clipped toenails?”

She said that line closed the deal almost all of the time.  If that worked, what is the overgrown landscaping outside your rental doing to your prospects?

Don’t be in denial- it WILL be more costly in the long run.  Get your daughter braces, surgery to remove the hump, and some Tony Robbins videos.  It’s a tough market out there and Billy can only bring one girl to the dance!       

Brett Furniss is the President & Owner of BDF Realty, “Charlotte’s Most Innovative Property Management & Investment Company” (www.BDFRealty.com and www.RentToSell.com).  You can follow his Twitter thoughts on the Charlotte real estate market by clicking on http://twitter.com/bdfrealty.  He is the author of the FREE E-Manual entitled “How to Rent-To-Sell Your Own Home” (http://www.renttosell.com/RTS-Book.html) which details how to get the most potential buyers to your home in this challenging real estate market.