Still RENTING at this time of year....
Usually at this time of year, I'll all out of available rental properties and no prospects are calling. This year is different and I have changed my MO.
Since there are unsold homes being put on the rental market daily, many property owners are giving them to their listing Realtors who are posting them in the rental section of the local MLS system. Since September, I have not been posting in this listing pool which is only getting BIGGER.
Instead, I have been posting listings on my website (http://VAHomes4Rent.com) and posting a daily listing on the Charlottesville Rental Housing section of Craigslist. Our CL ad is created in POSTLET which allows more photos and better coordination of information and the service is free for a 60 day listing. In the property description of the POSTLET, I have my website listed with a hot link.
Since we get numerous property referrals from area Realtors, our renting success is being appreciated. For those property owners who have chosen to list their unsold property through Gibson Management Group, Ltd., our Craigslist ad - posted early each day - is catching incoming rental applicants EARLIER and directing them to our website. Even our CL ads for properties available in early 2008 are generating interest as there will be new incoming rental residents moving into the area for UVa Medical Center, NGIC and the JAG school.
Craigslist, which originally started in the San Francisco Bay Area, is known world wide and is more often than not the FIRST place incoming residents will search for a new rental home. Since they are not looking to purchase housing, they are bypassing local Realtors and the local MLS rental section and "doing it themselves".
This new process takes a little more effort with creating the POSTLET/CL listing and posting listings in rotation early each day - however the payoff is getting our clients' units rented.
