[running-late802]

We've been liviing in our current house since 2005. We need to move into a new place before the next school year starts.

We've been looking for well over a year for a 2 or 3 bedroom house to rent. Craigslist has come up very short and the houses that have been listed, affordable and looked decent have turned out to be scams.

Can anyone suggest other websites for finding year-round rentals (strong preference for a house).

Thanks in advance.

[jenny1951]

Originally Posted by running-late802

We've been liviing in our current house since 2005. We need to move into a new place before the next school year starts.

We've been looking for well over a year for a 2 or 3 bedroom house to rent. Craigslist has come up very short and the houses that have been listed, affordable and looked decent have turned out to be scams.

Can anyone suggest other websites for finding year-round rentals (strong preference for a house).

Thanks in advance.

What area are you looking at? You might want to check out local papers as well as realtors and property management companies.

[FrugalYankee]

Single family homes as rentals are hard to find and are going to become even more scarce than they already are. Good luck. You may want to look for apartments instead.
looking for a rental in vermont

[running-late802]

Jenny1951,
We've been looking at an area with Burlington/Waterbury/St Johnsbury at the northern end and Rutland at the southern end. Further south of Rutland would not meet our needs.
R-L.

Also, Jenn. Thanks for the suggestion about going to a property management firm. We were trying to avoid it to keep the up front costs as low as possible.
R-L

[running-late802]

FrugalYankee,
Thanks for that link to the earlier post. I have rented here for 7 years and I was not aware of all the red tape involved. It's disheartening.
R-L.

[jenny1951]

Originally Posted by running-late802

Jenny1951,
We've been looking at an area with Burlington/Waterbury/St Johnsbury at the northern end and Rutland at the southern end. Further south of Rutland would not meet our needs.
R-L.

Also, Jenn. Thanks for the suggestion about going to a property management firm. We were trying to avoid it to keep the up front costs as low as possible.
R-L

Usually the landlord pays a fee to the property manager. When I had my house listed for sale last year, the realtor told me if I wanted to rent it, she had plenty of people interested, so you may want to check out the MLS rental section here:

http:/www.nneren.com

You can pick the state, town and type of housing on the left.

I will be renting my house in the coming year, in Windsor, but I am waiting for a tax credit senior housing apartment to be available first.

[tkln]

We use a property management company to rent our condo and we pay the commission, not the renters...

[jenny1951]

Originally Posted by tkln

We use a property management company to rent our condo and we pay the commission, not the renters...

Are you happy using their services? I am a little overwhelmed by the thought of renting my house, with all the negative comments I have read about bad tenants, and I am thinking of using a property manager. Three houses on my street are rentals, and I don't see any problems with the tenants. All of landlords rented without using property managers, which I believe charge 10% for their services.

[FrugalYankee]

You need to screen, screen, screen and learn to spot scammers. And don't be afraid to leave the place vacant while you are waiting for acceptable tenants. Bad tenants are worse thean none. My house has been empty for almost a year and I am still better off than I would be if I had rented it out, even to decent tenants.

I learned by doing - had a "property manager" who was worse than doing it myself. I finally ditched them and things improved. If someone is in a hurry to move in, that is a HUGE red flag; more likely than not they are being evicted. Never ever use so-called references or call current landlords. It's a complete waste of time.
Get their SS # -if they won't give it you you, RED FLAG.
Do court checks everywhere they have lived.
Get hold of the cops everywhere they have lived and find out whatever they can tell you.
Insist on proof that they have paid for wherever they have been living in the form of canceled checks or bank statements. If they can't come up with that - RED FLAG.
Stick to your guns when requiring a security deposit equal to two month's rent (NOT "first, last and security" - first plus security). If they can't come up with it, RED FLAG.
Make sure the lease has wording which allows you to recover attorney's fees if you have to go to court, otherwise you cannot add those costs to the cost of getting rid of a deadbeat tenant.

There are so many dirtbags who are one step ahead of the Sheriff it isn't funny anymore. Like I said, screen, screen, screen.

[tkln]

Originally Posted by jenny1951

Are you happy using their services? I am a little overwhelmed by the thought of renting my house, with all the negative comments I have read about bad tenants, and I am thinking of using a property manager. Three houses on my street are rentals, and I don't see any problems with the tenants. All of landlords rented without using property managers, which I believe charge 10% for their services.

We are generally happy with them but a few things to keep in mind is that we are mostly renting to tourists for shorter periods of time (at most we've had people in there for three months at a time) so I think it's a different market. They do a fairly decent job of going after anyone if there is damage (though there have been things that have been missed) and using the deposit to fix/clean/etc.

I think if we lived closer I might be more inclined to forgo paying the commission, but from where we are (in Queens! Hello former NYer!) it's all but impossible to check up on the place that frequently.