Advice on searching for a "good" home to lease in NOVA

[lindy112]

I second Margery's endorsement of Eddie Edwards. A good, professional rental agent. One caveat though - he requires a up-front retainer.

[SFean]

Originally Posted by lindy112

I second Margery's endorsement of Eddie Edwards. A good, professional rental agent. One caveat though - he requires a up-front retainer.

I'll gladly pay a retainer to someone who can really help. He sounds very professional. I will call him. Thanks so much.

[treebw]

The house in ended up in was on CraigsList; but I actually found a realtor who was great, she took us all around, gave honest opinions about neighborhoods, etc.
We did not end up being able to rent from her, but only because the house we wanted was being rented directly from the owner and I knew I could do that myself and she would not have ended up with a comission anyway.
I did keep her card in case I needed her again, once I find it I will email you directly with the info.
I found it...it will be in your direct messages.

[Guamanians]

We were recently in the same situation, and we found help from the Wilkes family, they are a father & 2 sons team at Remax. They are really willing to go the extra mile to help you find what you are looking for.
Joshua Wilkes - (703) 658-4719
www.weputufirst.com

[SFean]

Originally Posted by Guamanians

We were recently in the same situation, and we found help from the Wilkes family, they are a father & 2 sons team at Remax. They are really willing to go the extra mile to help you find what you are looking for.
Joshua Wilkes - (703) 658-4719
www.weputufirst.com

Thank you very much. I feel like I have some options now and I feel much better.

[Guamanians]

Originally Posted by SFean

Thank you very much. I feel like I have some options now and I feel much better.

I'll feel better too... The Wilkes did help us out, but we actually ended up finding our rental home through someone else. So, even though they did most of the work, someone else got the credit (and the $$)
So, referring them is the least that I can do....
and, in case you're wondering, we didn't exactly screw them out of the deal. It just worked out the way that it did.

[Rental Housing Center]

One of my rental clients said she found my name on here as a recommended agent. Hi, Eddie Edwards here. First time on this site. Awesome! Thank you for all of those good comments. We pride ourselves on offering a professional rental search service for 25 years now. For all of those that pointed out craigslist or militarybyowner as a good source for rentals I would honestly say Stay Away "unless" you are an expert at leases and pricing. Here are the facts. Craigslist and MIlitarybyOwner are "primarily" people who are not using professionals to market or manage there homes. Fact: Most are overpriced, Fact: Craigslist is loaded with rental scams. I have personally had people take my ads and copy and paste and advertise my rentals under another name. This is on top of the biggest scam where people break in to vacant homes and change out the locks and then advertise on Craigslist. You stop by and then rent by giving a cash or money order 1st months and deposit never to see the so called landlord again. I could go on and on about why you should avoid for rent by owners. Anyway, sorry about the rant but about 25% of our calls are from renters who have been burned by for rent by owners and people renting there homes taking money and then going into foreclosure. Bottom line, call an expert. We work for the tenants when looking. We also market rentals also. Moderator Cut: Realtors cannot advertise. Please see Terms of Service to learn how you can participate as a Registered Real Estate Agent on the forum.

[SFean]

Hey Eddie- I see you found me. You certainly took the worry out of finding a home in NOVA. I've prepared everything you suggested and I am just waiting for the bureaucrats to finish with the gov't change-of-station paperwork. When that's done, I'll call you. Thanks so much. Stevie