Are You Getting in the Way of Your Own Rental? (Be Honest.)
Here’s something nobody wants to hear: sometimes the biggest obstacle standing between your rental property and a great resident isn’t the market, the location, or the economy.
That’s not a criticism — it’s an observation we’ve made over 50+ years of managing San Diego rental properties. Well-meaning owners, with genuinely good properties, who are quietly sabotaging their own success with standards, assumptions, and policies that are costing them far more than they realize.
Let’s get into it.
First: Do You Actually Know Your Vacancy Cost Per Day?
Before anything else, you need to know this number. Not roughly. Not ‘somewhere around.’ Cold.
Here’s the formula: take your monthly rent, divide by 30, and that’s your daily vacancy cost in lost income alone. For a $2,800/month San Diego rental, that’s approximately $93 every single day the unit sits empty.
But the real number is higher — because you’re still paying:
- Mortgage payments
- HOA fees (if applicable)
- Utilities while the unit is vacant
- Landscaping and upkeep
- Your own time managing showings, fielding calls, processing applications
When you factor all of that in, a property sitting vacant for three weeks in San Diego can realistically cost an owner $4,000 or more. Not theoretical money — actual dollars walking out the door while you hold firm on something that may not matter as much as you think.
Keep that number in mind as you read the rest of this post. Because every policy, every standard, and every negotiation that extends your vacancy has a real price tag attached to it.
The Pet Policy Problem: Who Are You Actually Protecting?
This is the big one. And we say this with love: if your rental property has a strict no-pets policy, you are voluntarily cutting yourself off from roughly 70% of the renter pool.
According to the American Pet Products Association, approximately 67% of U.S. households own a pet. In San Diego — with its outdoor culture, dog-friendly beaches, and trail-loving residents — that number skews even higher. The renter who doesn’t have a pet is increasingly the exception, not the rule.
So when a qualified, employed, excellent-credit applicant walks through your door with a well-behaved dog and you say no — what exactly did you gain?
We hear the concerns:
- ‘What if the pet damages the floors?’
- ‘I just replaced the carpet.’
- ‘My neighbor had a bad experience with a dog.’
These are understandable. They are not, however, math. Here’s the math: an additional $500–$750 pet deposit and a modest pet rent of $50–$75/month covers most conceivable pet-related wear and tear — and then some. You’re essentially being paid to take on a risk that, more often than not, doesn’t materialize.
Meanwhile, the weeks you spend waiting for a no-pet applicant who checks every box? That’s $93/day, ticking away.
Consider allowing pets with appropriate protections in place. Your vacancy rate will thank you.
More in Part 2!
