If you're seeking a rental in Jacksonville... (Hampton, Golf: for sale, real estate)

[EricBoyd]

If you're in the process of searching for a rental property (house, apt, condo, whatever), be very prompt at getting your application documentation submitted for processing. I'm sorry for stating what may be obvious to many, but there are a LOT of renters looking at the available rentals right now. Not only is the rental market busy because folks aren't buying houses, but the summertime rental market is ALWAYS busy. So, that makes it especially important to have your required docs ready to go, as soon as you find a property you want to rent.

Just today, an interested party almost got everything together for a property they looked at...a week ago. I've shown that property to 7 or 8 different parties in the 2 weeks it has been listed, and one of them submitted complete application packages last night via fax, so I processed and approved them first thing this morning. The "almost applicant" was angry and accused me of cheating them out of renting the house, even though they took their own sweet time getting all the application papers put together. I'm sure they have their reasons for not acting quicker, but that's really not my problem. I work for the owner, not the tenant. If the owner found out that I wasn't acting quickly to get an applicant processed to lease their property, that would be the beginning of the end of my business. I wish I could make everyone happy, but that's not what I'm hired to do.

So, if you're looking at rentals, and you find one you want to rent, ACT FAST, or you'll continue searching for the next one.

[JBtwinz]

We are seeing this in Fernandina as well. We help two out of state friends to rent their homes and it was a little overwhelming this year for me. It was just a year or two back there were plenty of rentals here, not so much now.

This new trend is a little disturbing to me. With the stock market down and CD's at historic lows, as unorthodox as it is, this is most likely the best time in history to purchase a rental home with the rates as low as they are.

A lot of unfinished condos are now being built out as apartments and I have several friends who bought their condos at what they thought were lows only to see another 30% drop in their equity. I also see a lot of subdivisions getting ravaged by the homes turning to rentals and those who just walked away. Rentals are fine in a subdivision, it is just not everyone wants to invest the time and money into keeping a yard up and the outside appearances up. The investor is only there for the money and to keep it habitable.

The Times Union had an article about the investors coming to Jacksonville and others buying up homes at the lows to rent out. It is great for sales....but come 7 years from now are we going to have an over abundance of rentals on the market if this trend continues?

[fsquid]

certainly seeing this in Julington Creek too. Average time based on when the signs go up and when they take them down has been 3-4 days based on what my wife and I have observed.

[mississippimagnolia]

Totally agree. I live in JCP as well. We rented our home sight unseen after we saw an ad on craigslist. We knew that if we didn't jump on it, we would lose it. We overnighted the deposit and the contract to the owners the same day we found the house.

Incidentally, we bought the house we had been renting a few months ago.

If you find something you like, grab it! Because there are lots of people who can't qualify for a home loan that need to rent. And there are lots of homeowners who need to sell but can't. Many decide to rent their homes in order to pay their mortgages.

[jbean1234]

EricBoyd is absolutely correct. I am also real estate agent in St Johns Cty and have seen potential tenants lose rentals over and over again because properly priced rentals are getting applications as quickly as they are listed - sometimes multiple applications. Yes, some of these rentals are investor owned but the rentals I have shown in the JCP, Durbin Crossing, St Johns Golf & Country, St Johns Forest, Cimarrone, and South Hampton neighborhoods were generally not. Many homeowners who need to or choose to relocate have negative equity in their houses. Rather than sell the homes and lose money, many are choosing to rent them out for now. This is the case with the condos and townhomes in the Bartram Park area, too, which is why so many rentals pop up in there.

[Octobersmoon]

Reviving this thread to hear about how things are now. I have been watching and it looks like some things go fast and others sit. I am looking in JCP and DC mostly, but also in the 32259 zip in general.

We have visited the area, but I don't know if we will be able to get down there quick enough to rent something. I'm glad to hear that someone else has done the sight unseen thing and it worked out. We did that where we are now but it is owner managed.

Some questions:

Are property managers willing to rent sight unseen to folks at a distance?

We need a rental house starting the first of July. When is the timing right to snatch up that rental?

Will there be more or less on the market through the summer?

Our budget is up to 1700 for a 3-4 bd 2 ba (need an office). Is that going to be doable?

What kind of documents do we need to have ready to go to get our application in quickly?

Thanks!

[Florida2014]

We've rented a house without ever meeting the homeowners before, it was all done via email.

$1,700 for a 3+office or 4bed will be tough here in 32259, there are a few but they seem to go very, very quickly. You'll probably have better luck finding that in JCP vs. Durbin.

Have paystubs (proving income), bank account information such as account #s and balances, scanned in copies of your driver's licenses, both rental and personal references. Come to the table with some positives about you, ie; no pets, ample income, good references, etc. The more you can sell yourselves the more willing a homeowner or agent acting on their behalf will work with you.

Just in the past week here in 32259 we had a homeowner negotiate rent, deposit and even threw in lawn care into the equation for us when looking at a house. People want good renters just as much as they want it filled quickly.

[temanzi]

Originally Posted by Florida2014

We've rented a house without ever meeting the homeowners before, it was all done via email.

$1,700 for a 3+office or 4bed will be tough here in 32259, there are a few but they seem to go very, very quickly. You'll probably have better luck finding that in JCP vs. Durbin.

Have paystubs (proving income), bank account information such as account #s and balances, scanned in copies of your driver's licenses, both rental and personal references. Come to the table with some positives about you, ie; no pets, ample income, good references, etc. The more you can sell yourselves the more willing a homeowner or agent acting on their behalf will work with you.

Just in the past week here in 32259 we had a homeowner negotiate rent, deposit and even threw in lawn care into the equation for us when looking at a house. People want good renters just as much as they want it filled quickly.

This is quite good advice. I am looking to move around August from MD. I am a health policy analyst and my wife is a physician and we have a 5 and 3 year old. We will be looking for a rental the first year to get a feel of the area. We want at least 4 BR minimum and 3 BA minimum (My wife's sister lives with us). Monthly range about 2000. I have been looking at St John and St Augustine ares (this is where my wife will be working).

1. How soon do we need to start the process?
2. Other than the documents mentioned above, what else would be required? (Credit score, etc)
3. Is it better going through an agent rather than working directly with the home owner?
4. What would be the good school districts? (My 3 year old is special needs so this is very vital for us to have decent services for him).

[JBtwinz]

This was an older post and hopefully Eric will chime in......the rental market is even tighter now as it was when this post was started......we listed and rented in four days.

We were overwhelmed and that is an understatement!

While dealing with owners is fine they are being overwhelmed with applicants also and their methods of picking and choosing tenants are up to them.

We had a company locally taking applications and the fees charged to the would be tenant only to tell them shortly after the application and fees was taken that the home or apartment had rented.......find out how long your applicant fee will apply (time frame).

Good luck and welcome to the area

[Florida2014]

Originally Posted by temanzi

This is quite good advice. I am looking to move around August from MD. I am a health policy analyst and my wife is a physician and we have a 5 and 3 year old. We will be looking for a rental the first year to get a feel of the area. We want at least 4 BR minimum and 3 BA minimum (My wife's sister lives with us). Monthly range about 2000. I have been looking at St John and St Augustine ares (this is where my wife will be working).

1. How soon do we need to start the process?
2. Other than the documents mentioned above, what else would be required? (Credit score, etc)
3. Is it better going through an agent rather than working directly with the home owner?
4. What would be the good school districts? (My 3 year old is special needs so this is very vital for us to have decent services for him).

If you are talking about an 8/1 move-in date, I would visit the area in early July. Any earlier and the 8/1 rentals might not be listed yet and any later and you run the risk of nothing being available.

You won't need a credit score, chances are they will run your credit anyway. But if you want to try and negotiate with them on rent, you might want to print it out from annualcreditreport dot com just in case. For our rental, I don't think the agent even ran our credit, he just verified our income and references.

I would prefer to go through an agent but that is just personal preference. Some homeowners could be great to work with and might be more responsive given they own the property. Just ensure your rental agreement stipulates who pays for repairs, etc. I believe the standard is the renter is responsible for repairs under, say, $50...anything over that falls to the homeowners.

I'm not in a good position to answer about special needs schools, but I believe if you do a search here there have been several threads about that topic.

Good luck and welcome!