How to Succeed in renting out your unsellable house

I should almost feel guilty about how this all came to be. Almost.

My current renters gave their 30 day notice. They finally closed on the one they had been waiting for. Exciting for them, *groans* for me. Now I have to start the drudgery of showing the house, evening after evening for the next two months or so, until someone else rents it. I really want good renters. I need someone to take care of the yard, spring is upon us (sort of, this is Utah after all. I'm pretty certain we had pouring snow (yes, pouring snow) and brilliant sunshine all in the same half hour) and I live 35 minutes away from that yard that will soon need constant watering and mowing. So I placed an add on ksl. And five phone calls later I realize that I can't keep bothering my current renters with showing prospect renters through every night. So I decide to tell them all the same day and time and host it as a renter's "open house". That way everyone who would like can come and see it, and I'm only bugging my fabulous renters once. I set it a few days away and... end up with 8 appointments. Benefit #1 of doing it this way. Only 6 actually showed up. I didn't actually have to get frustrated with being stood up by the missing 2 appointments. Benefit #2 of doing it this way. Mob mentality. People start panicking at the obvious interest of others. I had three people offering me deposit checks on the spot. They wanted it, before any of the others. I almost feel bad. They didn't even have time to consider if they really wanted to deal with the 90 degree angled driveway.

But on the flip side... the house is rented and the current renters aren't even packed to move out yet.