I struggle to rent my beautiful SFH. I've not had even one showing because no one qualifies. I recently rejected yet another applicant who couldn't pass the pre-screen due to prior evictions. This one had four LL/Tenant cases last year. She settled them and remains in the place but owed big money. Can't take the chance.

In the interim, had a vacancy in the rooming house this weekend and somehow people know about it even before I advertise. I suspect its word of mouth as I get unsolicited calls weekly. I'll find a qualified applicant shortly; generally takes a couple of weeks. The pool of applicants is not only better but they're actually appreciative of having an affordable decent place.

Why is this so? I think folks are struggling. Inflation has ravaged finances pushing many folks towards borderline homelessness. This has been the case for awhile having gotten worst over the past couple of years. Generally, the rooming house applicants have a complete lack of an entitlement attitude and are simply glad to have a roof over their heads. I think the ticket now is affordable housing, but the issue is whether you can afford to offer it due to how much real estate costs now.

On the housing groups I frequent on FB, I find that the folks who are most outraged and rude about housing prices ALREADY HAVE A HOME! The ones who are looking - most of them - just want something, anything they can afford.

So glad we don't have a plethora of 3/2 or 4/3 houses we need to fill. Those are going for THOUSANDS a month and I don't think it's greed - it's just what the houses cost to operate.

As we know 2019-2022 saw a huge buying spree at whatever it cost to acquire a place, no regard for value or who the future occupants would be...I think we are going to see some shedding of those over-priced properties soon. Give it a year.

Anyone who passed Freshman level Econ 101 could predict that the Govt lockdowns and trillions of $ juiced into the economy would cause these problems, and yet everyone said that's what had to be done.

Those of us who said, "Yeah, that's gonna stink long term" were shouted down. Now people are complaining about the exact stuff we said would happen.

There is no free lunch.

Houses now cost more. You know who benefits from that? The 60%+ of homeowners who already own homes. There should be no complaints, other than probably their taxes and insurance rates increased.

Rents are higher. You know who benefits from that? The people who got tons of free money thrown at them while they stayed home in their jammies sippin' cocoa and vodka while the rest of us kept hustling and trying to keep our rental businesses from foundering. The one is the expensive markets with endless eviction moratoriums seem to continue hollering the loudest, while they have paid the least.

I'm not sympathetic or empathetic with such folks.

We have now had a lesson is what "universal basic income" (UBI) looks like." Anyone seriously want to advocate for more of that?

I had lots of rentals with "extra's" to attract a better class of tenants. But as cost rise, I got rid of some homes with pools, lot's of land requiring someone with a green thumb to help out. Instead I went back to the basic.

Same with apartments. I had buildings with singles, 1 bedroom, 2 bedroom and 3 bedrooms. Instead of having 7 to 9 people in one unit, I'd rather have smaller units with 1 to 3 people, max.

If you house is not renting and you seem not to attracting lookers, then you have to UP you game. More curb appeal. Some extra perks.

The key words sometimes is Hardwood Flooring. Central Air Conditioning. Garage with storage. New Appliances. Dog Run. RV off street parking.

In one rental the people were a blended family, moving in together to save money. They were going to have to rent 2 storage lockers at the local self-storage. I offered to have shed built and installed in the backyard, with alley access if they paid a 2 months deposit. With the deposit money I purchased a cargo shipping container and had it delivered for $2,000. I then put plants in front of the container so when you look outside, it's not obvious it's there.

G,

Why are you not putting up signs?

And don't bother numbering the apps. Someone will take them all. (I guess they think no one else can get the home if they take away all the apps!)

Just put in 10 apps and plan to refill it every day or so.

Are you willing to give us the address so we can see your ad?

Brad,

This is the same SFH I posted about last week with the link to Zillow ad. I'm not going to put apps in the box so much as flyers just describing the house and where to go on my Facebook page to get the pre-screening form and pictures. I typically do not put signage on the rentals nowadays. I did this a few years back before Zillow, Zumper and etc became so popular.

DJ, if I could find another one, I definitely would. I like them better than apartments. Quick to rent,not difficult to manage and far more profitable. I should do this with my SFH, but I can't legally. Demand is high for anything below $ 1000 a month in my area.

Ray,