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I'll be moving out of the area soon and since it would be a challenge(!) to sell my house in this current market, I've been looking into house rentals as an alternative.
I've done quite a bit of MLS, CraigsList and newspaper searching, and have spoken to 3 different brokers - and I'm getting the impression that:
- house rentals are a thin, "specialty" market (e.g., notably for corporate relocations)
- real estate brokers have no experience or understanding of the house rental market
In Rensselaer county, there have been approx 10 house rentals over the past year, and there are currently 4 houses on the market, 1 of which is a 2 room bungalow, two are townhouses, and the last is a builder spec house.
Craigs List is relatively uninformative, with a similar wide range of quality in properties.
More importantly, the realtors don't seem to have a clue. In one case, I was quoted a very high rental price - although, of course the contract included an automatic 6% brokers fee if I sold it and a mandatory 10% prop mgmt fee. In two other cases - essentially the brokers checked the MLS and Craigs List to report market conditions.
None of the brokers had any kind of believable marketing strategy.
Can anyone suggest a viable method for renting my house?
I would list it with a Real Estate agent; that's how I got my house. I paid the security fee right to the agent, and then the first months rent to the landlords. That way the agent can screen the people, and in this economy you need all the support you can get.
Last edited by colbean8; 10-09-2008 at 07:42 PM..
Reason: spelling error
Give us a chance we aren't all uninformed. I have 2 homes in rens. county going up for rent this week and recently rented a home in Albany. I do a lot of research and talk to many apartment and home owners, and have a great idea for fair market value.
I'll be moving out of the area soon and since it would be a challenge(!) to sell my house in this current market, I've been looking into house rentals as an alternative.
I've done quite a bit of MLS, CraigsList and newspaper searching, and have spoken to 3 different brokers - and I'm getting the impression that:
- house rentals are a thin, "specialty" market (e.g., notably for corporate relocations)
- real estate brokers have no experience or understanding of the house rental market
In Rensselaer county, there have been approx 10 house rentals over the past year, and there are currently 4 houses on the market, 1 of which is a 2 room bungalow, two are townhouses, and the last is a builder spec house.
Craigs List is relatively uninformative, with a similar wide range of quality in properties.
More importantly, the realtors don't seem to have a clue. In one case, I was quoted a very high rental price - although, of course the contract included an automatic 6% brokers fee if I sold it and a mandatory 10% prop mgmt fee. In two other cases - essentially the brokers checked the MLS and Craigs List to report market conditions.
None of the brokers had any kind of believable marketing strategy.
Can anyone suggest a viable method for renting my house?
TIA
Ed
"the realtors don't seem to have a clue."
You have got that right! I am a Realtor in Austin Tx, I earn $50,000 a year doing rentals as a small part of my business, many of my tenants have bought or built homes with me later on. Realtors do not like to do rentals, too much work so little money, what they do not seem to understand is they are building relationships, and its not a one time thing, at leaset not with me. Thats going to change, if they want to stay in business, many people can not buy right now, many have homes to sell but they have to move. many others have never been to the are they are moving to before, how can they know an area well enough to buy there. My rental clients want to rent where they will sometime buy or build, so there is a big market out there. If your needing to rent or have a house to rent check out Homes for Rent, Apartments, Houses for Rent, Rental Homes you will pay to run ads there but better tenants, and homes you may get. For market real value check out what homes have really leased out for in your area, and how long ago. Summer rents are higher and rents go up April and may about $100-$200, and go down $in Oct and Nov.
I lease out 7-10 a week, so your ad you run is the big eye catcher, many ads do not have pictures, put as many as you can. Do you have Craigs List in your area? Free ads there. My bigges puller was Maid's Not Included! I have been using that ad line for 26 years.
Hope this help,
LindaTx
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we aren't all uninformed. I have 2 homes in rens. county going up for rent this week and recently rented a home in Albany. I do a lot of research and talk to many apartment and home owners, and have a great idea for fair market value.
