Why is it so Hard to Find a Home to Rent in Rockford?

Question for you- why is it so hard to find a nice home to rent in Rockford; aside from the fact that "it's Rockford?" And I know what you're going to say next, "why would you want to move to Rockford?" I'm here and I want to stay here, but I've run into some horrible luck with finding a place to settle; I'm starting to think the rental market here is a scam.

First, let's discuss what I'm looking for. I'm in need of a two to three bedroom home with a fenced in backyard, two car garage and preferably a finished basement. That's it. Seems pretty standard, right?  I'm hoping to move in May, no later than June.

I've found a handful of properties that suit my needs but here's what I've run into- two things: no call backs or returned emails from "landlords" who claim they're out of the country working for Unicef, etc.  Take a look at some of these replies I got from three separate properties and let me know if this seems fishy to you.

Property 1

Property 2

Property 3

So what gives? I'm using multiple sources to find properties including Trulia, Zillow, Craigslist, real estate companies and rental property companies. Who do I trust? Who should I go through?  Have you run into similar issues like this?