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As we all know, the housing market in Tampa and the surrounding area is BONKERS!
For context, my husband is from Valrico. We have been living in the northeast for the past few years but our dream has always been to move back to Florida to be closer to our family. Well, the stars have finally aligned after years of trying and we are moving! However, it seems like everyone and their brother is also moving to the area. We have decided to hold off on buying until the housing market settles down but the rental market seems to be just as challenging!
Does anyone have recommendations on which websites to look to rent a single family home/townhome? (We have a dog and need a yard)
We have been looking on Craigslist, Zillow, Trulia, Realtor.com and Hotpads. It seems like 99% of rentals are owned by big national property management companies which would be fine but when I look up these companies they all have TERRIBLE reviews. When we reach out, we are just sent in circles OR they are asking for First Month's, Last Month's, Security Deposit, Broker Fee all upfront...meaning for most rentals we need to have $6,000 plus upfront (for houses with a monthly rent of $2k or less). While we can make that work, that seems insane and will drain our savings account to actually buy a house in the future!
We both work from home so we are looking everywhere from St.Pete/Clearwater to Brandon/Valrico and everything in between! (Although, ideally we would love to live close to downtown St. Pete or Seminole Heights)
We would love to rent from an actual person (not a huge company). We both are both professionals in our 30's, we have great credit, strong rental histories with references, and we are both fully employed.
If anyone has any recommendations of where to look, or knows someone who is looking to rent a property, please let us know! Any help is welcome and very much appreciated!
I am in a very similar situation and have been looking for something in the Palm Harbor/Oldsmar area. Would prefer a 2 or 3 BDR/2 Bath house, but would be okay with a townhouse or duplex type. A garage would be great, but not a deal breaker. We have 2 cats. I would also like to be able to install satellite tv service.
As we all know, the housing market in Tampa and the surrounding area is BONKERS!
For context, my husband is from Valrico. We have been living in the northeast for the past few years but our dream has always been to move back to Florida to be closer to our family. Well, the stars have finally aligned after years of trying and we are moving! However, it seems like everyone and their brother is also moving to the area. We have decided to hold off on buying until the housing market settles down but the rental market seems to be just as challenging!
Does anyone have recommendations on which websites to look to rent a single family home/townhome? (We have a dog and need a yard)
We have been looking on Craigslist, Zillow, Trulia, Realtor.com and Hotpads. It seems like 99% of rentals are owned by big national property management companies which would be fine but when I look up these companies they all have TERRIBLE reviews. When we reach out, we are just sent in circles OR they are asking for First Month's, Last Month's, Security Deposit, Broker Fee all upfront...meaning for most rentals we need to have $6,000 plus upfront (for houses with a monthly rent of $2k or less). While we can make that work, that seems insane and will drain our savings account to actually buy a house in the future!
We both work from home so we are looking everywhere from St.Pete/Clearwater to Brandon/Valrico and everything in between! (Although, ideally we would love to live close to downtown St. Pete or Seminole Heights)
We would love to rent from an actual person (not a huge company). We both are both professionals in our 30's, we have great credit, strong rental histories with references, and we are both fully employed.
If anyone has any recommendations of where to look, or knows someone who is looking to rent a property, please let us know! Any help is welcome and very much appreciated!
A couple of observations from someone in the rental business and who lives in the area you've targeted.
Forget it. You can search all you want, but the number of privately owned rentals in this area such as what you're looking for is a tiny fraction of the rental market. You're going to be waiting a very, very long time to find a privately owned rental property, or you'll be darned lucky if you do find one. A townhome will be the most likely, but there aren't many of them around here.
American Homes and Invitation Homes are the two big players in the market around here. If you aren't dealing with them you're likely to not find anything. In the time frame from 2010 until about 2014, they came in and bought up just about every SFH selling below $275k. In one neighborhood I lived in they owned over 30% of the homes. These are huge, lumbering corporations that grind up tenants and spit them out with little regard. They do a lousy job of maintaining their properties in my opinion and have multi-layered organizations that are so convoluted it can take days to identify and reach a property manager. I knew of three properties in contiguous lots, each of which had a different property manager!
First month/last month/deposit is a standard thing. If you don't have the $$ to put down, move on. There are plenty of folks behind you that do. It's pretty much standard in the rental business as far as I know. Pets require additional deposit in many cases - I require it and I also want proof of your dog's breed and size/weight before I'll consider it.
The Zillow listing given was pretty outrageous, but it wasn't even in the immediate area, either....
Sorry to sound negative, but the market here is insane and continues to be. I can't begin to imagine what it must be like to need housing right now unless you've got a pile of cash, and even with that you'll still have issues. I hope you have a "plan B" because you're likely to need it.
A couple of observations from someone in the rental business and who lives in the area you've targeted.
Forget it. You can search all you want, but the number of privately owned rentals in this area such as what you're looking for is a tiny fraction of the rental market. You're going to be waiting a very, very long time to find a privately owned rental property, or you'll be darned lucky if you do find one. A townhome will be the most likely, but there aren't many of them around here.
American Homes and Invitation Homes are the two big players in the market around here. If you aren't dealing with them you're likely to not find anything. In the time frame from 2010 until about 2014, they came in and bought up just about every SFH selling below $275k. In one neighborhood I lived in they owned over 30% of the homes. These are huge, lumbering corporations that grind up tenants and spit them out with little regard. They do a lousy job of maintaining their properties in my opinion and have multi-layered organizations that are so convoluted it can take days to identify and reach a property manager. I knew of three properties in contiguous lots, each of which had a different property manager!
First month/last month/deposit is a standard thing. If you don't have the $$ to put down, move on. There are plenty of folks behind you that do. It's pretty much standard in the rental business as far as I know. Pets require additional deposit in many cases - I require it and I also want proof of your dog's breed and size/weight before I'll consider it.
The Zillow listing given was pretty outrageous, but it wasn't even in the immediate area, either....
Sorry to sound negative, but the market here is insane and continues to be. I can't begin to imagine what it must be like to need housing right now unless you've got a pile of cash, and even with that you'll still have issues. I hope you have a "plan B" because you're likely to need it.
Sorry.
RM
Thank you for the information - I haven't seen any properties from American Homes but I have seen several from Invitation. We are also seeing the majority of properties from Main Street Renewal, Progress Residential, Tricon and Hampton and Hampton. Of these big companies are there any you would recommend over others? All the online reviews are terrible BUT they are all national companies so going to get people who are unhappy leaving the most reviews.
That is good to know about the upfront costs...in the Northeast (NYC and Philadelphia where I have rented) this is pretty unusual. In most cases here it is month and 1/2 rent for security deposit and MAYBE a broker fee due at lease signing. Pet fees are also pretty standard here too so that isn't a big deal. Then first month is due at move-in. All of this upfront plus last months rent and additional processing fees is just alot...We can do it, but there is sticker shock!
The turn around time is also insane....everything is available immediately! Which makes it really difficult to plan a move from out of state (and I would imagine also tricky in-state).
Thank you for the information - I haven't seen any properties from American Homes but I have seen several from Invitation. We are also seeing the majority of properties from Main Street Renewal, Progress Residential, Tricon and Hampton and Hampton. Of these big companies are there any you would recommend over others? All the online reviews are terrible BUT they are all national companies so going to get people who are unhappy leaving the most reviews.
That is good to know about the upfront costs...in the Northeast (NYC and Philadelphia where I have rented) this is pretty unusual. In most cases here it is month and 1/2 rent for security deposit and MAYBE a broker fee due at lease signing. Pet fees are also pretty standard here too so that isn't a big deal. Then first month is due at move-in. All of this upfront plus last months rent and additional processing fees is just alot...We can do it, but there is sticker shock!
The turn around time is also insane....everything is available immediately! Which makes it really difficult to plan a move from out of state (and I would imagine also tricky in-state).
Thank you for helping to put this into context!
Here's a nice place nearby that American Homes 4 Rent has on the market right now:
I'm not familiar with the NE other than NH and and the Boston suburbs, but everywhere else I have lived in the country (CA, IN, AZ, MA, WI to list a few) I've seen similar requirements, and that's been over a fairly long period of time.
Because the market is very volatile here, if you can't pull the trigger when you see something, you'll lose it. Accept this as the current market conditions and demand requires. To add to this, you're going into the market at or near the peak times for relocations, making things even tougher. Why can't you commit and just not occupy right away? The landlord isn't going to care if you're in the property or not, as long as you're paying the rent.
Have you tried VRBO or AirBnB? When we first moved here from NY in the Summer of 2019, we found a short -term rental (4 months) which gave us enough time to find a house. The market is crazy right now-maybe wait 6 months and see of things calm down on both the renting and buying sides. Good luck!
The best way to track something is pretty much to live on Zillow, check every hour and contact right the way. If you think properties are only available now it's not the case - there are plenty that are coming with later availability date but the problem is - these are rented by people in advance without even looking at these homes. Market IS crazy! If you see something sitting on the market - it's either overpriced even for today's market or something is wrong with the house (we have see houses with horrible smells, with questionably functioning plumbing and so on.
My brother in low is a landlord. He listed his rental house that will be available in 3 weeks and received 34 applications within 1 days. This is how craze market is. Less people are looking to move too because prices they agreed on before even with increase for renewal will not be as high as current prices, so they are staying.
First month + last months + deposit is a must nowdays. The only way to get it down is to ask for lower deposit, but as others mentioned - there is a line of people behind you willing to pay deposit equal to monthly rent, so...
You are more or less in a good shape. You are flexible for location somewhat. Just check zillow every house and call right the way. This is the only way to get rental from none big company. Best of luck!
I have bought and sold many times in Florida over the decades, and I have seen many booms and busts. While it is certainly true that we are in a real estate boom now, it has ALWAYS been the case that renting and buying in Florida is not easy and requires a lot of patience and takes TIME. When I have bought property in Florida I have taken one or two years to find the perfect place. Same for rentals. You should take your time finding the best property (whether rent or buy) and not get caught up in any boom-related stampede to snag a home. Many properties in Florida have hidden, not so obvious defects, that can lead to $$$$$ problems in the future. Many retirees own homes in Florida and they tend to refrain from basic home maintenance. I hear of people in this current market forgoing home inspections; that is just stupid.
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