Why can't I rent my room?

I'd love to get some advice. I've had a housemate for the past 4 years who finally moved out to take a job in Philly. To fill her place, I put an ad in Craigslist's Rooms/Shares listings, in both the Northern NJ and the NYC Suburbs sites. I've listed it on MOL Rentals and I put it on the Seton Hall Law School housing list. 

I used similar ads to find my previous housemates, and I've always had lots of responses. This time around, not so much. I've had one girl come by (who couldn't come up with a work reference). I've gotten a number of emails from men, despite clearly stating in the ad that it's only for a woman. And other than that, crickets.

http://www.maplewoodonline.com/classifieds/zoom.php?qs1=23100234chykot57

It's a really nice room; it's conveniently located and seems well priced in comparison with comparable rentals.

Any suggestions? Is there somewhere else I should be listing it?

TIA!

Does it have to be a single female? I know a woman with a very nice well behaved teen daughter who is looking for a room to rent in the M/SO area. 

We rented a similar looking room for over 30 years to young women.  Only one less than positive 

experience in that time.

You might try the site Trulia and Zillow.  They get a wide exposure.

It may be just bad timing.  For example, September could be the time when a woman from Seton Hall might be looking.  You may be inundated with potential renters at the beginning of the year.

Good luck...your room looks nice.

There's a site called JumpseatNews for United flight attendants. You might find somewhere on there to list it. I'd also open it up to men, though. 

What does light cooking mean in your ad?

PetuniaBird said:

What does light cooking mean in your ad?

Yeah, this may be killing it for people who think you want them to cook for you as part of the rent.

ParticleMan said:

PetuniaBird said:

What does light cooking mean in your ad?

Yeah, this may be killing it for people who think you want them to cook for you as part of the rent.

OMG I never thought of that! What I meant is that it's not really a shared kitchen situation but there's a setup in the room for a microwave, small fridge, coffee maker, etc  I certainly didn't mean I want my housemate to cook for me!  Although come to think of it...lol. And re: a male housemate, I have 2 teen daughters and I think it would be way too weird.   

Maybe just leave out the cooking/kitchen info and explain that when you get inquiries?

I read the ad to mean exactly as you intended I assumed microwave....

Corey

You need to do a couple of things. 

1) Post your address or at least an approximation thereof. 30 mins to Penn? Come on, sure if you are immediately walk to train. South Orange but also Maplewood sounds so laughably nebulous that people would just assume you're midpoint, thus hardly walk to train at all.

2) No really, address. a $725 rent will only attract sad sack divorced dads or millennial young women going to school or working in retail. The latter will pull up your place in Google Maps on their phone and think this would work, yes or no. Depriving them of doing that makes you an afterthought.

3) Off-street parking? I have no idea what that means. Driveway? Just say parking included. That's a huge plus and there are condo buildings where parking frankly sucks.

4) Private bath. Play this up for such a cheap rent, more verbiage. Post a picture of it. Otherwise they assume the worst.

5) Post links to tons of pictures, even if only one can be uploaded into a gallery. Use imgur.com for free hosting it takes 5 seconds, just copy/paste the URL.

As someone who frequently looks at ads for rooms on Craigslist because I'm thinking of moving from the room I have I think your ad is basically OK and can't figure out why you're having trouble finding someone.  

It may be the time of year.  

Your price is reasonable and should attract a lot more than sad sack divorced dads. Off-street parking is a commonly used term.  I would explain however that the light cooking refers to using a microwave and fridge in the room.  Often it means light use of the regular kitchen.   

I would post a picture of the bathroom.  I would stress the private bath because that is a huge plus.  

I also would not post the address.  Not if it's you and two teenage daughters.  You could be more specific about the location, such as near Valley Street or something like that.  

I'd also take a different picture of the room that makes it look cozier and more inviting.  The angle is kind of weird.     

Again, I do think the time of year is important.

I'm going to visit relatives (in California, where it's warm) for a couple of months or I'd have sent you a PM when you posted your query.  I'd seen the ad and was surprised it was still up.  I may send you a PM anyway.     

Maybe its the price.  I have seen a lot of similar for about 600....and many of them allow use of the kitchen.  If you only have a mini frig with the freezer in the frig, the freezer only works for ice cubes, anything else melts.   And never having a stove to use can be a deal breaker.

I would also explain what you mean by light cooking.

So I took all of your advice and came up with this for Craigslist:

http://newjersey.craigslist.org/roo/5304560525.html

Better? I decided to just delete the reference to cooking - I'll work that out with whoever rents the room. And I lowered the price.

I also changed the ad on MOL. Unfortunately MOL only lets you post one photo, so I can only show the bathroom, etc. on Craigslist. I know the photos are still a bit oddly framed, but part of the charm of this room is that it's tucked into the eaves of my top floor. It makes the room look (I think) like a Parisian garret (in a nice way, I hope), but it makes it hard to get a basic long shot.

Hope this gets some response!