Where would YOU look for a house to rent? (Detroit: showing, trip)

[Bluekangaroo]

I want to advertise our home for rent (we are moving out of state).

I've posted in Craigs List and MLive. I'm also planning on getting into the MLS system.

Where would you look for a rental home??

(We are in AA)

[kaypurdue]

I particularly like Mlive - that was how I found my last rental house. I've had pretty good luck with them.

Craigslist is free but I'm not sure how many people in MI are even aware that it's out there... seems to still be more of a west coast thing? But since it's free, it can't hurt to advertise there too.

[bubbagirl]

I found my current and next/upcoming rental on Craigslist, and I do know of several people that frequent the site nearly daily just to browse. If it is priced right, it will move. Thing with CL .. post on as many forums as you can (Jackson, AA, Detroit, Toledo), but also keep in mind that you sometimes need to use several email accounts to do multiple postings.

If I didn't get much interest on those sites within a week or two, I would then try to reach out in the papers. I was an apt mgr a few years ago, and my best inquiries came from drive by and newspaper ads. One major pointer... advertise whether or not pets are allowed, advertise price, and give some sort of incentive (for example, my upcoming landlord will be giving us $100 off our 12th month if all our payments are on time). A lot of landlords are not flexible with pets, but keep in mind that the right dog owners are sometimes your best tenants only because it is so hard for dog owners to find a nice, affordable place to live, so when they do find it they take care of it. If your inquirying party has a dog, they should be able to provide landlord references to vouch for their house care, condition of their previous/present rental, and personal references on how they train, handle, and care for their dog (and should be willing to bend over backwards to give you this info because it's so hard for them to find a nice rental for a dog - I know, I'm a dog owner). Do your research so that you KNOW your house is priced correctly - you want to be comparable to other houses that are similar in your area.

When it comes to showing the house... (apt mgr experience talking) I don't know if you will have moved out by this time, but in case you have not... remove items that make that house your home and try to generalize it more to just look warm and welcoming, such as reduce or completely remove family photos, clutter, etc. I also would put a good candle on a candle warmer (apple cinnimon, sugar cookie, etc) because the sense of smell helps relate people to warm fuzzy at home feelings. Good luck!

[Michigansnowflake]

Be careful with scents that are too strong, makes people wonder what odor you are trying to hide. I once toured a home that had a *plug-in* in every outlet. You could still smell mildew underneath it

[bubbagirl]

Originally Posted by Michigansnowflake

Be careful with scents that are too strong, makes people wonder what odor you are trying to hide. I once toured a home that had a *plug-in* in every outlet. You could still smell mildew underneath it

Ew...

Yeah, I hope I didn't imply that. I was only referring to placing 1 good scent in the home, but not going for overkill or make it seem like there was something to cover up/hide.

[SweetBeth]

My husband and I are looking at rentals right now and I google my Question "Houses for rent Novi, MI" (or other near by towns) and I will look at the first ten and that is it. We are also looking at the newspapers.

I am really glad someone mentioned Craig's List. I never thought about that. Great Idea.

I know there must be a lot of houses for rent but we are really struggling to find one. We are thinking about a weekend trip just to drive around and look for signs.

[Bluekangaroo]

Thanks for the tips.

Did the owner use a property management company? Since we'll be out of state we are leaning towards using one.

On the flip side, the house we're moving into is being handled by the owner - no property management.

[malamute]

Originally Posted by Bluekangaroo

I want to advertise our home for rent (we are moving out of state).

I've posted in Craigs List and MLive. I'm also planning on getting into the MLS system.

Where would you look for a rental home??

(We are in AA)

If I were looking for a rental, I would probably look at property management companies just because it seems that details would be taken care of, and I've known people who rented their houses through those companies because they were leaving town and didn't want to have to worry about it.

[bigwilly]

Everyone I know uses craigslist. It's definitely a good place to advertise.