What you need to know about Twin Cities rentals right now.
I have people asking me all the time about rental so I reached out to agent rental partner and asked her to write a guest post.
Finding a Rental, by Brenda O'Connell
So right now it is SUPER tough out there... there is a huge shortage of rentals.
I currently only have 1 rental - www.AuntieBRentals.com
Here is how I can help..... by Educating you.
Ok so Gov Walz has a law out right now that landlords cannot ask tenants to move out - Tenants tho can choose to move out. Because of this - there is no one moving and a shortage of rentals.
As for your Oct move-in date. Tenants USUALLY have a 60-day notice. A few have 30 days' notices. What happens with that is tenants give there notice on the last day of the month. Then their manager takes a day or 2 to let the owners know tenants gave notice. Then the owners sit and do their research.... Do I sell, do I re-rent, hows the market. Takes 7-10 days for them to decide on what to do. OR if they do re-rent, take a new listing agent a few days to get the home on the market. SO why I tell you that... Next week is a BIG week to start looking until the end of Aug. You should find something in the next 3 weeks and sign a lease on it.
Where do I look? Well of course you have Zillow/Trulia/ Rent.com that has rentals. BUT in July Zillow started to charge Leasing Agents $10/week to post their homes for rent. Some DYI landlords are saving money and not posting their homes on that site. BUT there are other sites to lean on. Here are my top 3:
- www.hotpads.com
- Facebook Marketplace
- Northstar MLS (agent only can get access to this- CALL SARAH)
- Craigslist is ok - but don't go back more than 1 week on a listing post date and if it is too good to be true IT IS! There are lots of scammers.
The best approach to contact the owner of a rental listing - Don't just use the easy way to find a rental, put the effort into it. Come up with 3-4 lines about yourself & what your looking for.
Here is an example:
Hi, my name is Brenda, I am looking for a 2-year lease for me and my family (husband and 3 kids) I really like the fact that you have a bonus room for my home office. I have good credit and make 3x the monthly rent. What are the next steps in viewing the home?
This will give a personal touch and help the agent/landlord get to know you quickly. If you have Pets READ THE AD!! put the pet in your email. A lot of leasing agents use software to set up showings. You have to use it. Please do not ever go to a house unless you know who you are meeting or ALONE. Do not go to a showing where they give you a lockbox code and a time frame. Too scary.
Do not take it personally if they don't respond. Move on to the next house. Leasing Agents/Landlords get 100's of emails daily and they have to weed through them all.
Finally, my advice is to do walk every home you can. ONLY apply after you have viewed the home and NEVER pay any money to anyone without meeting someone face to face.
I hope this helps you on your rental journey!!
Thank you in advance,
Brenda O'Connell
Realty ONE Group, Choice
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