Private Rentals In San Diego? (for sale, real estate, apartments)

[Broncos05]

Hi Everyone


I'm having a really difficult time finding private rentals (condos, apartments not vacation rentals) in San Diego as of lately. I'm mainly interested in the North County area.

I would prefer to rent thru a private landlord versus a company as they tend to be a bit more flexible in lease terms among other things. I have tried craigslist, but it seems to be saturated with apartment companies.

Would appreciate any advice & suggestions

[mricu]

Craislist is truly the best way to get the best deals (you can negotiate directly with the landlord).

Other avenues you can try are:
- Real Estate Agent
- The Reader Magazine, City Beat Magazine (classified section)
- Union Tribune (classified Section)
- padlister.com, hotpads.com

One thing you can do with a realtor is get them to look up not only properties available to rent, but you can also get them to search properties that are for sale, but have been on the market for a long time. If the property is not moving, the owner may be open to the idea of renting out their property so that they are getting a little bit of income coming in rather than having it sit empty.

Good luck!

[Ray1776]

What resources do real estate agents have in searching for rental properties that aren't available to the general public? Don't most rental postings appear on craigslist?

[mricu]

Originally Posted by Ray1776

What resources do real estate agents have in searching for rental properties that aren't available to the general public? Don't most rental postings appear on craigslist?

Realtors have access to the Multiple Listing Service (MLS) which only realtors can access to it's fullest potential. They also most likely have resources (ie other agents) who may be working for private landlords to find tenants.

The general public can access some MLS listings through various websites, but not all the information is provided and there really isn't a comprehensive website that will search all MLS listings even with powerful search engines.

Not all rentals are on craigslist. Craigslist is so full of fake rental ads or flooded with property management companys that I personally think it's not a viable option to find a decent/legitimate private rental. I say this because I have tried placing ads for rent for my properties, and property management companies hire people to specifically flag many legit posts as "spam" and craigslist automatically deletes them before any potential renters can see them. This basically eliminates a lot of their competition. Nothing much I can do about it, but it unfortunately is happening and there have been news stories about it.

I'm not for or against realtors, it's just an option people can use. If you do use a realtor, the landlord may be less likely to negotiate the rate as they need to pay the agent a commission. If you find a place yourself, you may be able to negotiate a lower rate if the rental has been on the market for some time.

[Ray1776]

Thanks for that! I tried looking for a place last summer and ran into a lot of fake rental ads and numerous property management company postings on craigslist as well. I had to come up with some extensive search filters to weed most of them out. I did not know they were flagging their competition.

What is your take on sites like Zillow and Trulia?

[shmoov_groovzsd]

Ray1776,

Use this website. San Diego Real Estate, Search San Diego MLS

Its the local San Diego MLS (multiple listing service) that agents use, albeit its the consumer (diet) version. This website was launched fairly recently and probably due to demand from agents as competition from the growing number of 3rd party sites out there like redfin. Those 3rd party websites were doing a far better job at mapping, information and getting an agent.
This will give you the same exact access to properties that any agent would have. The only difference is that some of the notes and comments that agents use may not be availble to see.