Inverted Market Conditions (Austin: apartments, renter, buying a home)

[catholicdad]

I have lived all over the USA. In every city, I was told that one should plan housing well in advance, especially in cities with tight markets. Landlords became suspicious if you wanted to move in too soon.

But in Austin, it seems nobody is willing to take you seriously unless you plan to move in next week. I've talked to many realtors. Is there an explanation for this inversion?

[10scoachrick]

There's a 'head over heels in love' joke here somewhere; but I can't put my finger on the punch line.

Seriously, I guess there's only so much planning that can be done if you can't get the landlord to commit in advance. Maybe it's a 'bird in the hand' sort of thing. I should think a landlord would like to have a new tenant commitment some reasonable time prior to the current renter moving out.

You're finding this in SFH or apartments? There are a few landlords on C-D...perhaps they can offer some insight.

[Trainwreck20]

For apartments, I suppose it means that they have people lining up to move in next week, so they aren't looking for longer commitment times. But I haven't rented in forever, so not sure.

[catholicdad]

I refer to rental homes.

[EzPeterson]

In a hot market like Austin's right now, a property owner isn't going to want to bypass a month or two of rental income to "hold" a property, when they have people calling that want to move in right now.

[Idlewile]

I had a realtor to look at single family home rentals and while some were 'available now', the rest were 3-4 weeks out as there were current occupants that needed to move. I didn't have any issue with timing other than there were a few that were two months out for possession date and I had to be out of corporate housing earlier than that.

The issue was more with rental homes going in a matter of hours after being listed. Not much different than our experience buying a home here.

[catholicdad]

Originally Posted by EzPeterson

In a hot market like Austin's right now, a property owner isn't going to want to bypass a month or two of rental income to "hold" a property, when they have people calling that want to move in right now.

Then how come there are other cities with hot markets where landlords demand that prospective tenants sign up years in advance?

[EC70]

I think there is a difference between a tight market and a hot market. I've never heard of being required to enter a rental agreement years in advance and really I don't know who would want to. But then I have owned a home for 15 years now so maybe I'm out of the loop...

[catholicdad]

Originally Posted by EC70

I think there is a difference between a tight market and a hot market.

Explain please.

I've never heard of being required to enter a rental agreement years in advance and really I don't know who would want to. But then I have owned a home for 15 years now so maybe I'm out of the loop...

I've lived in big cities where that was common practice.

[Idlewile]

Originally Posted by catholicdad

Then how come there are other cities with hot markets where landlords demand that prospective tenants sign up years in advance?

I've not heard of this. Only pre-leasing for fall in a college town.