Why would I............?
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......
