Real Estage Agent Reccomendations? (Hollywood, West Palm Beach: flat fee, short sales, real estate)

[SeeraLynn]

Hey everyone,
My boyfriend and I just found out we are moving from West Palm Beach to either Ft. Lauderdale, Hollywood, Hallandale, or Lauderdale by the Sea. We are going to visit all the areas on Tuesday to figure out where we best fit. In the meantime, I was hoping for some real estate agent reccomendations/referrals that can get show us some good places. We want to rent for a year or less and we're trying to stay in the $1000/month rent range. Hopefully we will have the area narrowed down to one after our drive about on Tuesday. We're both originally from MA and we're really exctied to move! My goal is to have a wonderful and successful 2009, starting with finding a great apartment in a new city! Thanks for any advise & Message me if you want!

[fauve]

I'm interested in hearing recommendations as well - also rental

[trekker954]

do your research on craigslist and realtor.com first. you'll be hard pressed to find a realtor to work exclusively with you for just a $1,000/mt rental. But if you can be specific about your wants and needs and give him/her exact places you want to see, you can find one. Mine only does sales so I can't recommend. But i do highly recommend those two links I supplied.

[SeeraLynn]

I tried websites and there are sooo many properties, but 70% don't have pictures to even look at. How does someone expect to have any luck at all if they can't put a picture up?

[fauve]

Actually, if I were a realtor in this economy I might prefer handling rentals. With rentals, at least you know you have a customer (the renter) and a seller (the landlord). Between window-shopping buyers waiting for the market to tick just a little lower (who are then rewarded by stalling), buyers who later can't get credit, and banks who pull the rug out on short sales by coming up with higher appraisals...a realtor must be spending a lot of time spinning their wheels. Better to have 5 guaranteed $1000 rentals a month than nothing at all.

[fauve]

OP, on realtor.com you might try just calling the realtor directly yourself for properties you're interested in, and just sidestep 1/2 of the equation.

This is interesting too, because I called a bunch of realtors (names I found on realtor.com) as I was looking for rentals, or generally well-known names to see if any one wanted to list my property, and not one returned my call for either option! My go-to realtor has "retired" because the business has become so frustrating.

This actually worked out for the best in one case because I'm going thru a flat fee service (the only one to pick up the phone), that just acts as a middle-man when someone calls on the mls or realtor.com listing. At least I know someone will answer the phone. And the price comes out a whole lot less than a one month rental, and I know that who ever calls will get to see the property! Plus, you get a listing with a description and 16 pictures on realtor.com - yes, pictures are essential - I don't even bother looking at listings that don't have pictures!

[Keeper]

Please send realtor recommendation via DM.