It is hard for new property owner clients to realize that lowering the rent does not always get their property rented sooner.

With 20+ available  rental properties, when my phone is not ringing, I know that prospective tenants are not looking * they aren't in town; they are still on vacation; they are waiting for the LAST MINUTE to see if their current home will sell before they commit to a rental home in the area - a small apartment for him or a house for the entire family.

Lowering the rent won't make the phone ring.  Individual property owners make the mistake that thinking that by lowering the rent, the phone will ring - if the people are not in town looking lowering the rental rate in Craigslist each week won't work....it just means it will rent for a lower amount to lesser applicants (qualified at the lower rent) when prospects are in the area.

Knowing the rental market, when people MOVE and when people LOOK to rent a rental home homes is an integral part of being a professional property manager.

By keeping the rental rate AT MARKET RENT, prospects are qualified at the higher rent and THEN I will lower it for up front rent payments * 3 to 6 months in advance *  a longer term lease or other consideration acceptible to the property owner......a win-win. 

Just lowering the rent until it rents is a mistake many property owners make thinking they are getting their property rented when they are actually leaving hundreds if not thousands of dollars on the table that will never be put in their pocket.

Area Craigslist rental listings are slowly dwendling, homes are renting FAST and prescreening is even MORE important with gas at $4+/gallon.

I can tell more and more landlords are pre-screening caller/applicants.  Prospects when they call ALREADY know what questions to answer - when they need to move, what kind of pets they have, how long they have been in the area, how many in their family. 

Also, they are spending more time on my web site previewing homes by viewing interior photos and floor plans and charting distance from the property to their work and schools....once they use my website, they can really enjoy the benefits of the mapping capability and neighborhood features.

Although schools and neighborhoods are still VERY important in their selection process, driving distance and commute times are entering the pre-screening conversation more and more.  Questions about appliances, storage and services included in the rental rate are also being asked in the pre-screening contact. 

Prospects are traveling with laptops or using computers at their new job to narrow down their choice and are viewing several properties in a given area at the same time.

I've had prospects call me from in front of a property after viewing it from their laptop in their car as they had signed on to a neighbors unsecured wi-fi signal.

It's good to see prospects are doing their HOMEWORK * I guess that's why they call it HOME WORK!!

While local Realtors are bemoaning no buyers for their lisings, the local rental market for SFRs * single family homes * is BRISK.

Schools are out for the summer and altough gas prices are now at $4/gal locally, people are moving into the area in DROVES!!

Additionally, many residents who are fortunate enough to actually sell their local homes are electing to rent for a year on the off chance the local sales market continues to remain fairly stagnant and they can trade up or down and create more home equity in their new purchase.

The segwaying of new hires for NGIC will start this summer as current staff are rotated out and new staff is brought in for replacement slots and new positions and brought down from the DC area.

Some areas such as Crozet/Old Trail remain slow to attract new rental residents, while areas like Forest Lakes/Hollymead as well as Redfields continue to draw new rental residents and medium price homes in Lake Monticello are selling and larger area rental homes are renting.

Remote properties down Rt.20 South and out 250 West are the least desirable because of distance to town/gas costs, and lack of internet access.  Many of these areas are not serviced by our local cable company and Embarq has not made high-speed available to land line phone users.  The price of installing a HughesNet dish is costly for a rental home and properties where owners have not already installed this equipment are at a disadvantage.

Larger rural homes with high-speed/DSL access are at a PREMIUM and rent quickly as many residents desire to work from home when possible and not spend time or money on commuting to work/town.

All in all, rental property owners who market properly, price their rent within the market and do not put too many restrictions on tenant applicants will enjoy the benefits of this BRISK RENTAL MARKET.

It's happening already in our area. It usually takes until mid to late July for property owners with unsold homes to realize they need to RENT their home when they move....this is known as the "shadow rental market".
 
For the last 2 years, those homeowners would call me directly - they by-passed their sales agent as an option for a temporary property manager/leasing agent. This year is different. Realtors are calling me FIRST and THEN referring their clients to me. Maybe its the $250 I pay for property referrals * however, I rather think it is the knowledge that the home will go back on the market within the next 2 years when our area real estate market rebounds and they want to maintain the relationship with their client.

Since my management portfolio is mostly high-end single family homes, many prospective renters who call me are getting smart and are asking if the rental home I am offering has recently been on the market for sale...they don't want trigger happy property owners putting THEIR home on the sales market next spring and tasking them with showings and staging their home while paying rent.

For this reason, I don't take properties listed/offered for sale and lease simultaneously. When scheduling a viewing appointment, if there is a FOR SALE sign in the yard, my experience is that rental prospects will not show for the appointment which wastes my time and energy....Additionally, my website requires photos and floor plans for listing continuity which takes time and energy to prepare and upload.
 
Most rental prospects for area rental homes are asking for longer term leases - 2, sometimes 3 years. They are coming to UVa or other large area employers and don't plan to buy and don't want to move several times over the next 2 or 3 years. This is another reason they are selecting homes rather than apartments or condos where they have no knowledge of their neighbors or management capabilities.

While a few areas of the country are experiencing lower rental rates - Las Vegas, California, areas of Texas and Florida....most areas of the country are actually experiencing increased rental rates as DEMAND for good rental homes has increased as people are electing to not purchase homes and elect the flexibility of leasing.

Having been quoted in The Hook about the rental increases for GOOD, single family homes, I’m including some recent articles on the real estate market nationwide that supports my observation that the local market is enjoying some significant rental increases.

$ There are fewer rental homes in the area as many investor owners took advantage of the last few years of double digit appreciation and sold their rental homes to first-time owner-occupants. They either went into the long string of apt to condo conversion units for CASH or they got out of the real estate market altogether.

$ Many new hires to the area are electing to rent rather than buy if they are only going to be in the area for 2 or 3 years. While the rule of thumb for the last decade has been to buy a home if you would be in our area for 2 or more years, newcomers to the area are not willing to get stuck with an unsold home if and when they leave the area.

$ Many new residents still have un-sold homes with little or no equity. They are either renting their current home short term until the market turns in their area or the wife is remaining in that home until it is sold and the entire family can relocate and reunite to our area. In anticipation of this, they rent a comparable home locally so that the family does not have to relocate twice.

$ In addition to NGIC * National Ground Intelligence Command * expanding and bringing in over 800 new employees, the new MJH * Martha Jefferson Hospital * has broken ground next to State Farm on Pantops. The UVa Medical Center is expanding, again, and with a significant grant from the State of Virginia, the new Emily Couric Cancer Center has broken ground where the old "Towers" at the corner of W. Main and Jefferson Park Avenue once stood. While many incoming new residents will rent some of the newer condos or conversions in the area, many will want to rent homes in the county for amenities, schools and quality of life.

$ The Fluvanna/Lake Monticello area continue to be desirable for new residents working in the west side of Richmond/Henrico/Short Pump area and Charlottesville. Additionally the commercial area at I-64/Rt 15/ZionXRoads has blossomed with a new Best Western motel on the NW corner across from a new LOWE’S. This area will continue to attract new com-ercial growth with the employees desiring to live in Albemarle or Fluvanna counties * a 10 to 15 minute commute.

Anticipating the tightening of our local rental home market, many homeowners who are relocating out of the area are electing to rent their current home and purchasing a second home in their new home town. They are buying at the low end of the market and hope to sell their current/local home when the area sales market increases in the next few years...Buy LOW and Sell HIGH works for real estate as well as the stock market.

Anticipating the next growth area for desirable rental homes is not hard. The Crozet/Old Trail area will not be a "rental home destination" until there is significant commercial presence in the area * primarily a regional grocery store which is in the works.

Although there continues to be new construction at Lake Monticello, it is smaller/Senior housing that does not attract families so the current rental homes in the area will continue to be desirable. The Forest Lakes/Hollymead area continues to attract families because of the very good schools and commercial businesses new to the area.

My crystal ball says that our area’s rental market will continue to remain STRONG and demand will continue to GROW!!

From our May, 2008 newsletter....view the full newsletter on our website...http://VAHomes4Rent.com

Education and experience have always been major differences between individual, private landlords and professional property managers and thanks to the government, the gap is widening.

The availability for private landlords to run credit checks on applicants has become next to impossible.  Unless a landlord has had a home inspection of their office and had the security of their tenant files verified, they are unable to subscribe to credit reporting/tenant screening services.

Almost 5 years ago, the government tightened the rules on the BIG 3 credit reporting agencies who in turn tightened the rules for their subscribers and third party re-sellers of credit reports.  One of the new criteria is that there be a "site inspection" for where reports are ultimatly stored and a review of the office practices of the landlord.  Having a locking file cabinet for tenant records is a "must" and separate area in the house for the "landlord's business" is also verified.

Most landlords who only have a few rental properties, either won't pass this site inspection or don't feel they need the extra expense of a locking file cabinet or lock on their home office so they just pass on this part of the process.  Landlords who are only renting until the "market gets better" rarely run credit reports since they see this as a one-time event.
 
These are the landlords that "poor credit" tenants find and take advantage of.  While first-time landlords BRAG about finding a tenant with their "first Craigslist post", they often end up having to evict them within three to five months.

Our area is in the "early throws" of the rental season, so I made sure ALL of my FOR LEASE signs were placed on available properties before Easter so that prospects in the area for the holiday weekend AND for Spring Break who are driving around the area would take interest in the properties I have for lease.

Surprisingly, I started getting several calls over the Easter holiday from prospects who wanted to know if I would LOWER the rent.  They did not know the rent the property was listed at, they just had a figure in their mind or a budget rent that was clearly below the market rent for properties in our area.

After the 3rd or 4th such call, I started asking the caller why I should even consider lowering the rent when I had not reviewed their application, run their credit report or heard their offer....such as a longer term lease; 6 months rent in advance, etc.  They were shocked that I would want to "check them out" BEFORE I AGREED TO NEGOTIATE A LOWER RENT - why wouldn't I just lower the rent for a voice on the phone?

Maybe it is the constant media attention to the nationwide real estate slow down, the pundits advising "now is the time to buy" or the make an offer/any offer mentality; the REALITY is  there are FEWER good rental homes for a LARGER pool of rental tenants this year.
 
....there are area apartment/multi-unit residents who want to move out on their own and lease a single family home;
....there are MORE people moving into the area with UVA Medical Center, the expansion of NGIC, UVa grads schools as well as new-hires to new businesses in the area - Lowe's at Zion X Roads, construction/expansion of the UVa Med Center;
....more people are choosing to RENT rather than BUY....in past years, the rule of thumb was if you would be in the area for 2 to 3 years, it made financial sense to purchase a home * in the current market, these people are electing to rent so that they are not stuck with a home to sell when they have to leave the area; and,
....we still have people moving into the area who want to rent for a year  BEFORE they decide where they want to buy or if they want to buy or build their own home.

Add to this, the fact that many investor owners have sold their older, single family investment homes over the last few years and gotten out of the rental/landlord business.  This has removed many homes around the university and urban ring from the rental pool so that even with property owners who have tried to sell homes and have now placed their homes on the rental market, the number of well maintained homes in DESIRABLE areas (south and north of town) will not provide enough inventory for the anticipated demand.

The economics of being a landlord can often be contrary to the current real estate market......Central Virginia landlords have the best of both worlds......

As a frequent poster to Craigslist for rental properties and a frequent "flagger" for discriminatory ads, I am glad to see that the suit from several Chicago area attorneys has been dismissed. Craigslist is an electronic bulletin board * they do not write or even proofread the ads that are posted UNLIKE the faceless print media classified voices or e-mail addresses that we use to insert print media ads. I have seen numerous discriminatory ads for my area on Craigslist and it is these individual landlords that need the attention of Fair Housing agencies rather than the 800 lb gorilla in the Bay Area....unfortunately, there is little or no potential for media attention on individual landlord complaints so it is more likely that these "big splash" cases will continue to be filed in an attempt to extort $$$ for the agencies tasked with investigating and filing these complaints....KUDOS to Craigslist for hanging in there!!!