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I have been a realtor for 26 years, full time, all the time and I have never been a part of as many rental situations as I have this year. Sellers who must leave their homes for a new job....renters who have jobs but also a bankruptcy or a short sale or foreclosure in their background. They have to live somewhere. And it is kind of the same thing....the homes that are well kept in decent areas asking a reasonable rent have multiple offers. Dogs seem to be accepted by landlords but cats, not so much. When our government does away with Fannie and Freddie and the mortgage tax deduction....see where the rental market heads. These are unprecedented times. Sellers have only one house to sell...your realtor is seeing this 10x over every day. This is a business that requires work and diligence and pricing for the market not for what you "need". If I hear that word again from sellers, I think I will shoot myself.
Theories are nice, but I was hoping for actual data IRL. You know, man (or woman) on the street.
In your market are you seeing more applications to rent? Are rental prices rising?
If you don't want to disclose your location, that's cool, but give me a general idea (e.g. "mid-sized city on the west coast").
It would also be nice to know what type of investment property you own: apt complex? Condo/townhouse? Single Family?
TIA.
I'll answer while we wait for chet to come back.
For the first time, I'm being contacted in large numbers by family & friends of our current tenants looking for rental availability. While prices aren't necessarily rising, I am having absolutely no problem in filling our vacancies.
I'm in NW Indiana - most of which is considered a part of the Chicagoland area.
In April 2008 I was in the market to rent and had an abundance to choose from. I ended up with a brand new condo with granite/hardwood, etc. all never lived in and could pick from multiple floor plans. They were also lakefront. Poor developer couldn't sell them to save his life. Started leasing asking $1800/mo. I negotiated $1200/mo - 3 mo. lease and month to month thereafter. Lived there 2 1/2 yrs while I searched for a house and rent never went up (developer was very nice and appreciated the fact that I took such good care of his unit)
Fastforward to June 2010.......LONG waiting list for the condos. Minimum requirement 1 yr lease but rent was still $1200/mo. I was out and within less than a week unit was rented.
Maybe the pricing of lease units hasn't gone up but demand sure has. All those people that either lost their houses or walked away have to live somewhere.
PS - $1200/mo in my area is pricey but they were very nice and in a very nice area.
Theories are nice, but I was hoping for actual data IRL. You know, man (or woman) on the street.
In your market are you seeing more applications to rent? Are rental prices rising?
If you don't want to disclose your location, that's cool, but give me a general idea (e.g. "mid-sized city on the west coast").
It would also be nice to know what type of investment property you own: apt complex? Condo/townhouse? Single Family?
TIA.
exactly. the only answer i ever get, is the claim that "foreclosures will create more demands for rentals." i never see any data to support this, and i think the price dynamics of the rental market are way more complicated than that. demand isn't just about the number of people, it is also their ability to pay.
Interestingly the highest demand is outside London - in the South West (Avon/Devon/Somerset/Dorset/Cornwall)
With regard to foreclosures, banks simply aren't interested in operating as residential letting agents. It's not cost effective for them. When they repossess a property they'll obviously try and sell it - for the right price - if they can't get the price they want, they'll just hold onto it.
A person formerly living in a now foreclosed house may have been unable to afford the cost of "owning" that house BUT (assuming they still have a job) may be better placed to afford a rental property - particularly when they are no longer liable for expenses such as maintenance costs, insurance and property taxes.
In my area in the States there are plenty of empty foreclosed homes - for sale, but not for rent - and few actual rental properties.
So, rents are staying pretty bouyant.
Last edited by London Girl; 08-26-2010 at 12:33 AM..
In my area rents for very nice homes that failed to sell are dropping steadily. Every one has offers like first month rent free, etc. That is lower rent my friends. I keep seeing the same houses coming up for rent on craigslist over and over for months and even years. (I've been here 32 months and check the listings at least weekly, just in case I find something I like better.)
Puget Sound area, WA
Theories are nice, but I was hoping for actual data IRL. You know, man (or woman) on the street.
In your market are you seeing more applications to rent? Are rental prices rising?
If you don't want to disclose your location, that's cool, but give me a general idea (e.g. "mid-sized city on the west coast").
It would also be nice to know what type of investment property you own: apt complex? Condo/townhouse? Single Family?
TIA.
Los Angeles rents have fallen dramatically and continue to stay depressed. In some of the formerly high priced areas, rents have fallen as much as 25-33% from 4 years ago.
I have yet to see a property where rent is greater than the mortgage amount. For a while in early 2009, Compton came closest as homes were pushing down into the $170-180K range, but the numbers still weren't there yet as you are most likely looking at Section 8 tennants who will be paying market rates of $800-1000 a month. Unfortunately there, even if the numbers panned out, you have nearly a 100% change of having to continually make repairs to the place.
People forget that at least in Los Angeles, in the early and mid 90's, landlords suffered greatly.
exactly. the only answer i ever get, is the claim that "foreclosures will create more demands for rentals." i never see any data to support this, and i think the price dynamics of the rental market are way more complicated than that. demand isn't just about the number of people, it is also their ability to pay.
You are correct, that logic doesn't make sense. More foreclosures will mean more demand for rentals, but as foreclosed homes and potential home buyers will be turned into renters those foreclosed homes will be turned into rentals which means a larger supply of rentals.....
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You know, man (or woman) on the street. 
Rental house prices
