What are you asking for rent? Did you try posting it on Cragislist yourself and speaking to the tenants yourself? I do think time of the year matters a lot, early summer is the best time to rent to families. I have had property for rent in Jan and Feb and literally got ZERO calls…and then spring rolled around the calls poured in.
I think borrowers with recent prior short sales or foreclosures are great tenants. They may have a 580 credit score, but if the ONLY mark on their credit is a foreclosure from a underwater property they walked from, I think they are a great risk. I rented a house of mine to a couple that were coming off a BK and moving out of a house that foreclosed and they have been awesome tenants. Other landlords overlooked them b/c of their credit score and didn’t read between the lines that it was an isolated event. I also like former HOMEOWNERS b/c they are more used to fixing small things themselves and keeping up the lawn since they have OWNED A SFR BEFORE. And…they are usually used to making a much higher PITI payment then your rent (even though they may have been on the free rent gravy train for 2-3 years prior to getting booted from their house).
This is a great example how rental property investors have to be really careful researching rents, neighborhoods, demand before buying. You never truly know what it’s going to be like to rent it until YOU HAVE TO TRY YOURSELF.
