How Long Will It Take To Rent Your Home?

We’ve found that the average single family home in the Hudson Valley typically takes about 30 days to rent. That timeframe can be shorter or longer, depending on these 4 critical factors:

- Price
- Condition
- Marketing
- Time of Year

Let’s explore these 4 critical factors, and what you can do to address them.

Price

This is by far the most important factor. If your home is priced too high, you won’t get enough activity to get it rented. What’s worse, is if it’s priced too high, you’ll lose precious marketing time at the very beginning of the listing- the most valuable days on market.

In order to get your home priced appropriately, we highly recommend the following:

- Get a professional price opinion
- Research and compare similar properties for rent
- Adjust for the positive and negative attributes that your home has

Condition

There are a few minimum market standards that must be met for any home that’s hitting the market. If you miss the mark on these, you’ll get a lot of lookers that don’t pull the trigger, and your days on market will go through the roof. Here are a few common condition issues that often go overlooked in rental homes.

- Paint should be clean, modern and free of nicks, scuffs, peeling and smudges
- The home should be empty, and free of all belongings, tools, and cleaning supplies
- Landscaping should be trimmed and clean for maximum curb appeal
- The home should have a deep clean, and be free of any dust, dirt, bugs, debris, and odors
- All utilities should be on, with a comfortable temperature maintained for showings

If you address all of these issues upfront, and get the home in market ready condition, you’ll stand a much better chance of renting the home quickly.

Marketing

This is important. If people can’t find your home, then they won’t be able to rent it. If you cut corners on marketing, you’ll pay in multiples in vacancy costs and lost rent. We recommend getting your listing prominently displayed on these platforms for maximum visibility.

- Zillow Group
- Apartments.com
- Multiple Listing Service
- ShowMojo.com

Your next renter could be on any one of these sites, and skipping one to save a few bucks, could make your days on market much longer than necessary.

Time of Year

The season is actually much more important than a lot of people realize when it comes to getting a home rented quickly.

The ideal time to rent a home is in the spring market, with the summertime being a close second. If you have any control over it, we recommend avoiding the fall and winter time for renting a home. The days are shorter, people are looking to get settled before the summer ends, and inclement weather can cause cancellations that drive up the marketing time.

Here is a quick graphic to illustrate our take on the market activity by season.

While it’s not always possible to time your rental’s availability, we recommend doing your best to avoid a vacancy during the fall and winter months.

In Summary

There are many factors that can affect how long it takes to rent a home. Being armed with the knowledge of what to look for and how to address it, can help you significantly decrease your days on market, and get your home rented quickly!

Need a Professional Opinion?

We’d be happy to provide a no cost rental market analysis to help you determine the fair market rent, and assess the rent-ready condition of your home. Just visit our Property Management page, and click the "Get Started" button today!