Property Management Maven

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!!

It's happening * in the relm of area real estate, area list prices have dropped so that some would-be tenants can actually afford to BUY an area home; but their credit, employment history  or income are not sufficient to qualify them to lease a rental home.

Military families (officers) coming in have more than sufficient salary/wages and housing allowance to rent homes in the $1,800 to $2,200/month rent range....a family who has rented in the area for a year with only his income and a CAT and who qualify for a $400,000 ($350,000 mortgage) home purchase do NOT qualify for the same  rental homes.

Even with raising my rents, incoming rental applicants are better qualified BECAUSE they do not want to buy.  They want to rent for the 2 or 3 years they are in the area in grad school, medical school, building the new addition to the UVa Medical Center or on assignment.  

It is not that the area sales market is so terrible * there are loads of nice, desirable homes on the market * the reality is they don't want to be tied down to having to sell a home in two or three years. 

These rental prospects are asking if the property they are interested in is going to be for sale and they are asking for 2 or 3 year leases upfront which my investor clients are happy to accomodate with a rental increase for the third year.  Renting from owner who may want to sell in a year is not appealing to these would-be tenants so they quickly bypass our local MLS rental section and are making inquiries of area property management firms.