Rentals for Rent

What the Media isnt telling... about RE

noreply@blogger.com (Director) — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 19:27:00 +0000

I thought this was a excellent post by therealestatebloggers.com. Definitely worth spreading the word and putting the real facts out there.

The real estate market crash continues as home values plummet….’
‘Home sales continue to decline as the housing bubble bursts….’

‘Is the real estate market hitting a recession? Find out tonight at 11!’

Sound familiar? Those are just a few of the headlines that have been thrown around by the media lately. In a time where people are very much influenced by what’s in the news, it seems a bit irresponsible for the media to be feeding the housing panic with such gloomy headlines.

Of course, the media isn’t the only channel to blame - consumers, speculators, politicians, real estate professionals, the economy and a ton of other factors all have a hand in the state of the market. And the majority of them are being pretty pessimistic about the whole thing.

What they don’t seem to get is that pessimistic speculation can hurt the market just as much as tangible factors such as mortgage rates, employment rates, etc. The fact is, the strength of the U.S. economy, while relying on many different factors, also relies heavily on the sales industry in general and sales people specifically.

That’s right, when it comes right down to it, sales people are a driving force of our economy. An analogy may help in this case: say suddenly, all over the country, sales forces in radio advertising just stop working. No more prospecting, no more aggressive sales calls, nothing. What would happen? The radio advertising industry would plummet, crash, grind to a halt - mostly.

So, what do you think happens when real estate agents start to believe that the market is crap and there is no way they can get contracts? They’re going to stop working, they’re going to stop actively persuading people to buy or sell, and surprise, surprise, the market is going to slow even further!

The bottom line is, there are many factors contributing to the appearance of a housing market crash, when in reality, the majority of the market is just leveling out and still making positive gains in value. You cannot generalize the real estate market of the entire country and expect to be accurate with your findings.

It’s time for the media to quit all the doom and gloom reporting, even if it gets more ratings than fluff stories; for the lazy agent to quit whining that there’s no work to go after; and for everyone to realize that what we’re REALLY seeing across most of the country is simply the leveling out of a major housing boom.

Don’t believe it? Check out these 26 facts you AREN’T hearing or reading through mainstream news media.

Our first 7 facts come from a government study done by the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight:

1. Coincidentally, the 3 states that have had the sharpest decline in home sales & prices are also 3 of the states that experienced the biggest booms (sharpest appreciation) during the early 2000s - California, Florida and Nevada.
2. Over half of all metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs) are showing price appreciation each quarter.
3. Of the 20 ranked cities with the greatest price declines over the latest four quarters, all but one (Las Vegas-Paradise, NV) are in California or Florida.
4. Only 15 out of 50 states have shown any actual price decline in the past year. The rest still show modest appreciation in home values.
5. Only 3 states have shown significant price declines from the first quarter of 2007 to the first quarter of 2008.
6. There are still many areas showing 5% or more appreciation over the past year, including but not limited to Bayou Cane LA with 11.22%, Wenatchee WA with 8% and Idaho Falls ID with 5.06%.
7. The type of annual appreciation we’ve seen since 2005 (ranging from 1.8% to 3.7%) is similar to the type of appreciation the U.S. experienced in the mid to late 90s, right before the real estate boom.

Let’s look at some other facts:

8. A “boom” in economic terms means a period of unsustainable growth - with the term unsustainable being the keyword. In the real estate world, a boom market is considered one in which prices have risen over 30% in 3 years, while a bust market is one in which home prices have dropped by at least 15% over a 5-year span. By that definition, very few markets are experiencing a bust. It is more likely that prices are simply bottoming out from the big boom. (According to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation.)
9. Rural land is much more valuable due to rising food costs, demand for corn-based ethanol, and city-folk desiring to get away to the country.
10. Demand for big boat docks is so high that having one in your backyard can double your property’s value. A dock that sold for $700,000 in 2004 sold for $2 million last year. (Facts 9 & 10 are courtesy of June Fletcher over as the Wall Street Journal.)
11. Areas that did not experience skyrocketing home values during the big boom (like Houston TX) still have hot real estate markets. Agents in Houston give the market a 3.5 on a scale where 1 means prices are falling hard and 5 indicates prices skyrocketing.

Our next 7 facts come from the National Association of Realtors (NAR) and from their Chief Economist, Lawrence Yun:

12. A recent online study shows that nearly a quarter of potential homebuyers are waiting for the right time to buy - if something can spur the group on as a whole to start buying, it could be just the push the market needs to take off again.
13. The national median existing-home value for all house types is down 6.1% this June from June 2007, however, there have been way more short sales and foreclosures this year than last, which skews the numbers and makes it impossible to do an apples to apples comparison.
14. The average 30 year, fixed-rate mortgage is still lower than it was in June 2007 (meaning it’s still a smart time to buy).
15. Many markets are seeing home sales double from last year - like Colorado Springs CO, Sacramento CA and Spartanburg SC.
16. It’s still a very attractive market for buyers, with large inventory, attractive interest rates and sellers willing to negotiate.
17. Housing affordability is likely to improve by 15 percentage points to 127 for all of 2008, according to NAR’s housing affordability index.
18. Our economy is not headed into recession - not yet anyway. The gross domestic product (GDP) growth is forecast at 1.6% for 2008 and 1.4% for 2009 - not spectacular growth, but still positive gains.

To be fair, some media outlets ARE posting positive news about the market, with CNNMoney.com being one of the biggest contributors. According to several stories on their site:

19. June’s home sales may be down a bit (a little over .5%) but it still came in well above economists’ predictions - meaning things aren’t as bad as people think and the market is much stronger than many professionals believe.
20. The housing inventory is lowering slowly but surely - June came in at a 10-month supply, while May’s numbers showed a 10.4-month supply.
21. Most of the decline is seen around 2 main types of markets: weak, industrial economies that are under pressure from the struggles of the Big Three automakers; and the areas that were previously part of the biggest boom markets.
22. A third of the market still shows significant gains in pricing (such as Binghamton NY) and in general the Northeast is still seeing home value increases.
23. Surprisingly the condo market is booming - just not in the area you might expect. Condo values in Bismarck ND rose a whopping 36.4% compared to last year.
24. A housing rescue bill is being passed around the Senate (having already been passed in the House) that will allow thousands of at-risk borrowers to refinance their old, unmanageable mortgages into low-cost fixed-rate loans insured by the Federal Housing Administration (FHA).

And our last 2 significant facts:

25. Many real estate agents are helping to fuel the supposed ‘market bust’ by giving in to fear and worry. They believe what the media and politicians are saying and are simply giving up, using the excuse that ‘the market’s no good.’ If agents’ were out there working hard, cultivating prospects and persuading people to buy or sell, the market would show definite improvement.
26. Somehow, even though the residential real estate market is apparently ‘in shambles,’ there are still agents doing nearly $750 million in real estate transactions (congratulations to Dolly Lenz) while in 2005, with the market still in boom mode, the highest sales volume only hit close to $250 million (by Mr. Harald Grant). If the market was really as bad as they say, Dolly wouldn’t have been able to hit those kind of numbers. (courtesy of The Wall Street Journal’s 2007 Real Estate Top Professionals).

There you have it - 26 little known facts the media’s not hot to spread around. While the state of the market isn’t the media’s fault (at least, not ALL their fault) it’s important for the news media to be aware of how their reporting can affect the U.S. Just as it’s an agent’s responsibility to be aware that if they give up on aggressive prospecting, they’re also adding to the problems of the real estate market.

The bottom line is that the market isn’t nearly as bad as everyone says. It appears that Americans took the boom for granted, and just can’t cope with leveling prices. It’s just about time for the media, the agents, and the government to step up and shine a little ray of hope onto the real estate world.

Jumbo loans move from 417k to 730k?

noreply@blogger.com (Director) — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 20:45:00 +0000

Congress seals the deal on rebates

Both chambers pass final $170 billion plan aimed at boosting the economy. Next stop: White House. Swift action expected.
By Jeanne Sahadi, CNNMoney.com senior writer
February 7 2008: 10:41 PM EST.

"Housing provisions. The bill calls for the caps on the size of loans that may be purchased by Fannie Mae (FNM) and Freddie Mac (FRE, Fortune 500) to be temporarily raised from the current level of $417,000 to nearly $730,000 in the highest cost housing markets.

It also calls for an increase in the size of loans that would be eligible to be insured by the Federal Housing Administration"

Extreme Makeover Home Edition comes to Delaware

noreply@blogger.com (Director) — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 18:28:00 +0000

This week, Anderson Homes, based in Middletown, Delaware, will do what many consider the impossible. Together with ABC's Extreme Makeover: Home Edition design team and hundreds of local subcontractors and volunteers, they will build not one, but two new, quality homes for two deserving Wilmington families in just under a week's time

Visit Anderson Homes for more information.

Arlington Virginia apartment for rent

noreply@blogger.com (Director) — Tue, 22 Jan 2008 21:49:00 +0000

Beautiful apartment for rent in Arlington Virginia at the Io Piazza by Windsor

BRAND-NEW LOFT STYLE WITH HARDWOOD FLOORS, GRANITE, STAINLESS STEEL APPLIANCES, FLOOR TO CEILING WINDOWS AND WALKING DISTANCE TO EVERYTHING!

Unlike any other, this contemporary community raises the standard for urban living.

BRAND-NEW LOFT STYLE WITH HARDWOOD FLOORS, GRANITE, STAINLESS STEEL APPLIANCES, FLOOR TO CEILING WINDOWS AND WALKING DISTANCE TO EVERYTHING!

for more details visit the Io Piazza Listing

other Arlington rentals here: http://rentalsforrent.com/RentalResults.aspx?st=55&cty=Arlington

Over 50 active Delaware Homes For Rent

noreply@blogger.com (Director) — Mon, 21 Jan 2008 02:36:00 +0000

Rentals For Rent with just a few months of activity has nearly 50 active rental homes for Delaware. Click here to find a new home

http://rentalsforrent.com/Rentals.aspx?action=dd&st=9

Rental Permits: How much do you pay?

noreply@blogger.com (Director) — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 19:49:00 +0000

In Newark, Delaware landlords and property managers have began to growl over rental permit fees which is said to be one of the highest in the country. According to the NLA (Newark Landlord Association) the City of Newark, Home to the University of Delaware, is ranked as having the highest rental permits fees at $300 a unit per year. We don't believe this applies to Commercial real estate with 4 or more units however.

It appears the $300 a year fee is to help offset "annual inspections" of each property both inside and out. If the fee is not paid or the inspection fails the permits are removed and the property must become Owner Occupied.

Is this common for college markets?

RentalsForRent.com stats thru Compete.com

noreply@blogger.com (Director) — Tue, 15 Jan 2008 18:15:00 +0000

In reviewing our site statistics through Compete.com it appeared the entire rental market had taken a hit in traffic for the month of December... or did they?

In looking out Rentals For Rent's.com site statistics Compete.com has R4R recorded with a low low 1499 visitors yet Google analytics and traffic logs show nearly 4 times that amount.

Did anyone else have similar issues? is there something we are missing?

Optimize your Rentals Property Listings for more VIEWS

noreply@blogger.com (Director) — Fri, 07 Dec 2007 04:22:00 +0000

Google Suggest

photos of your rentals

Homes for Rent , Super Bowl 2008 Houses?

noreply@blogger.com (Director) — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 21:10:00 +0000

Today you can find just about anything on Ebay and with the Super Bowl only months away its no shock that its loaded with NFL items already. In fact, not only can you get Super Bowl tickets months in advance, you can also bid on a reservation for a rental HOUSE near the stadium.

Already popping up on various auctions are homes for rent in Glendale Arizona near Super Bowl Stadium. Some of these homes are auctioning at $15000 for 1 WEEK !! (for a 2000 sq ft home) So for you landlord or property managers in Glendale with vacancies coming up you may want to hold off a bit before you turn the property over for a long term lease.

... We'll keep an eye on this to see what these properties are really renting for.

How much Rent should I charge?

noreply@blogger.com (Director) — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 17:36:00 +0000

With a soft real estate market, more and more people are looking to convert their homes into rental properties. The big question is "How much rent Can I get?"

The guys at iiproperty have put together a handy tool for showing rental comps in various areas throughout the country.

Visit www.Rentometer.com for more information.

Send mail to your tenants using Postful.com | email to mail service

noreply@blogger.com (Director) — Fri, 30 Nov 2007 17:04:00 +0000

In this electronic world its difficult to find time to do things that do not involve a computer. So when it comes time to mailing out leases, tenant applications, late notices we find ourselves 'getting to it later'. Often times when we do get the time we're missing stamps or the toner in your printer ran out of black ink.

The guys over at Postful.com have come up with a way to convert E-mail into Snail mail.

Easily set up an acct
Send an email with the address you are sending to in the subject line
in the body of the email type in the information to be placed in the letter, or send an attachment.
Send it, accept the proof, and your done!

They will then print it, stuff the envelope, put a stamp on it and send away.

Cost: $.99 per letter. When you factor in time, stamps, envelopes, toner and paper.. you'll find its cheaper to use this method instead of doing the labor yourself.

Take a look at their site for more information.
http://www.postful.com/

Great Phone and Fax service for Managing Rentals

noreply@blogger.com (Director) — Mon, 26 Nov 2007 15:07:00 +0000

If you are a Do-it-yourself Landlord or Property Manager a Virtual office is the way to go. A Virtual Office or Virtual PBX, as it is sometimes called, is a Phone system and fax service wrapped into one. For roughly $10/mon (less than an dedicated phone line) you can get a professional fax and phone service including extensions.

How it can be useful to the average landlord or manager?

Various Phone extensions which can forward to any phone or multiple phones if needed. So you can have an emergency maintenance line forward to your mobile phone or home phone without the user ever knowing that happened.
Use the included screening service to see who is calling before you answer. You can then send to voicemail or accept the call all while the user listens to music of your choice.
Have your prospect calls for vacancies go to voice mail for retrieval later while you are on the go.
Have a dedicated extension for various departments or people. Ie: maintenance call go to Maintenance man.
Receive faxes in your email inbox or access them online anywhere
Fax service great for sending/receiving applications and leases.
Great for hiding your home phone or mobile phone yet getting your work done.

Take a look at GotVmail for an excellent video demo of some ways to use your Virtual office.

Happy Thanksgiving | Tenant Reminders, lock up, heat ...

noreply@blogger.com (Director) — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 18:41:00 +0000

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

REMINDER:
If your tenants are traveling this week, you may want to give them a quick email or phone call reminding them to make sure they turn the heat back and not off (where applicable). Also to be sure to lock up securely. In college markets throughout the US, many students for off campus housing will be leaving town and going back home. This opens the door for some of the highest crime rates in those areas.

We hope everyone has a safe and happy holiday.

Tenant Screening & Credit Checks for tenants

noreply@blogger.com (Director) — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 18:25:00 +0000

There are quite a few services online for tenant screening. One in particular we have been using for years is called CitiCredit.net. What has been nice with this service is you have the information instantly.

Some members suggest

MrLandlord.com
Free Tenant Report Services.com

Has anyone tried these services or have suggestions for any others?

For Rent Signs Still useful !

noreply@blogger.com (Director) — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 17:45:00 +0000

With a large surplus in the housing market more and more people are turning their properties into rentals with hopes that the real estate market will rebound. This of course puts more rentals out there so you need to explore several avenues when marketing your property.

Listing rentals with us is free and we currently publish our listings on several other sites such as GoogleBase, oodle, Vast, Edgieo and more. So we really try and get the word out on the net for you. In accordance we also suggest the good ole fashion for rent sign. The obvious benefits of this is to grab anyones attention as they drive by however most of the signs we see do not have an Information tube attached with them.

The outside of your rental home gives people a general idea what the inside of the house/apartment looks like as far as size and how its maintained. This unfortunately doesn't answer some of the important questions such as: how much or whats included so you're going to be stuck fielding calls. With your listing on RentalsForRent.com you get a printable flier that you can place in your info tube. This will give the potential tenant a quick photo of your property, property descriptions, amenities, pricing and more. This should help eliminate late night or untimely calls asking if you allow tenants with 200 pound dogs and so on.

To get your flier:
Make sure you are signed into your account and then find your listing by typing in the Rental ID # on the rentals page. Select the PRINT icon on your listing which should take you to a Printable version of your ad. Thats it!

Its an easy opportunity that we often overlook when filling our properties.

- Good luck

Talk with 1000's of Landlords/Property Managers

noreply@blogger.com (Director) — Sat, 17 Nov 2007 02:51:00 +0000

The founders of Rentals For Rent have been members of an outstanding forum for many years now called: TheCreativeInvestor.com. TCI is probably the largest Real Estate Investment Community out there and has some outstanding mmbers. The community has everything from real estate attorneys to cpa's who cater towards the real estate industry. Be sure to give them a visit at http://www.thecreativeinvestor.com/residential/

Inspired by Dave DugDale of RentVine.com

noreply@blogger.com (Director) — Sat, 17 Nov 2007 02:36:00 +0000

Our blog was inspired by the efforts of Dave Dugdale at RentVine.com and his blog.

Dave does an outstanding job of marketing his site and reporting the latest news within the industry. Dave operates as a one man show and is taking on some of the large conglomerates such as Rentals.com and RentalHomesPlus.com.

Good Job Dave! Hopefully this inbound link will give you a little boost within Google.

Renting to College Students

noreply@blogger.com (Director) — Fri, 16 Nov 2007 21:40:00 +0000

In our last post we discussed renting to college students and offering off campus housing. I'm sure many of you need to clear your throats at the thought of renting to college students however it can be VERY lucrative and more secure than you think.

Sure college students are a little harder on a house than families and they don't have any credit, or care for credit to check to see how they pay their bills. - this could work in your favor.

College students don't have credit & in most cases have family members pay for tuition and housing- why not make the parent/guardian co-sign?
With college rentals you could have 3 or 4 sources of income per property. With a family if the main member loses his job you could be facing a serious problem
College students don't care for properties well, we know this and so do they. Because of that they pay a premium for off campus housing.
Low vacancy rate with college rentals.
Turn overs can be relatively easy when students are from out of state. This leaves the summer months typically open for any repairs WHILE you collect rent

Any thoughts?

Close to University, Advertise Early.

noreply@blogger.com (Director) — Fri, 16 Nov 2007 21:33:00 +0000

This time of the year the rental housing typically drops off a bit however off campus college housing begins to go through the roof. In many cases college rentals run their leases from June to June. if you are in an area where there is a shortage of off campus housing you may want to list your house for rent early.

by January of 2008 we would have had all of our leases filled for the following school year which is June 2008 to May 2009 - ljinvestments.com

If you home is located in or around a college town you may want to consider renting to college students.

Propertyware.com | Property management Software

noreply@blogger.com (Director) — Fri, 16 Nov 2007 21:20:00 +0000

If you manage several properties or hundred of properties, an excellent property management software is Propertyware.com.

This is an online piece of software that will manage everything from retrieving maintenance requests via your own personal website (provided) to the money in and money out. Full features for creating tenant documents via mail merges and tracking who owes what. View their online demo to learn more about this software.

Put your tenant Database online with google (free)

noreply@blogger.com (Director) — Fri, 16 Nov 2007 15:32:00 +0000

If you manage or own a handful of rentals, Excel is probably your tool of choice for managing your tenants. The only down side is when you are at work, home, vacation or away from that computer which holds the files you don't have access to that information.

Google makes this easy. Google Documents will allow you to upload your excel file to your google account so that it can be edited anywhere you have internet access. Its safe and secure and only those people you choose can view it.

If you partnered with someone on those rentals and want to share access you can do so in real time. So if your husband or wife helps with the rentals while you work, you can share that database and change things on the fly.

Rentals For Rent jumps on Blog Wagon

noreply@blogger.com (Director) — Fri, 16 Nov 2007 13:38:00 +0000

Welcome to the blog lines of Rentals For Rent.com. R4R is a rental property and apartment listing site which is absolutely FREE to use. Our difference versus other free classified sites is that we focus solely on rental homes and properties.

As with the beta version of any project there are fixes, upgrades and feedback that is needed. Our blog was designed to pass this information along and get some feedback from our viewers at the same time.

We also have a great deal of tips for Landlords and property manages to help simplify the management of their properties using various tools and tips of the industry. Our founders have been in the property management industry for many many year and currently uses this tool everyday to get vacancies filled fast!

Contact us if you have any questions.