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Atlanta Condos For Sale

I Cleared My Rental Wait List

September 5, 2017 by Thom Abbott

Renting your Midtown Atlanta CondoIf you have lived in a Midtown Atlanta condo for any length of time, you know it takes….time…to clear the rental waiting list. In fact, about 5 years in most buildings. (Almost every client we have sold a condo to, in various buildings, has cleared the wait list at 4+ years!)

I’ve Cleared My Rental Wait List — Now What?

Great you have permission to lease your Midtown Atlanta condo!

Once you have cleared the waiting list in your condo building, you have a specific amount of time in which to obtain a tenant for your condo. (This too will vary from building to building.) Now you need to find a tenant….that is if you in fact decide to rent your condo. You may decided it’s not the time for you to lease, and then your name will fall off the list and you will have to start back at the bottom. Depending on your personal situation, this can be the perfect time to start your real estate portfolio. You can look at purchasing another condo, or home, and lease this one. So you will need to be looking for that new home, and probably rather quickly based on the time you have to find your tenant. 

How Do I Find My Tenant?

Many homeowners will choose to “go it alone” and try to lease their condo on their own. Not my advice for sure. There are services such as Craigslist and other websites, but do you really want to meet a total stranger, off the Internet in your condo? Ahhhh, I thought not. 

Working with a real estate agent can make this process easier. Not only do we assist you with the marketing of your condo, we give you advice on the best things to do to make your condo more rentalable..and hopefully rent quicker. And an agent may be able to do property management for you, or just help you secure a tenant. Not all agents can, or do, property management. There are pros and cons to using a property management and we can discuss those with you in person. 

Screening Your New Tenant

Finding a Tenant for Your Midtown Atlanta CondoSo who is this person that has expressed an interest in living in YOUR condo? (We understand that you still think of this as your home, but it’s really a real estate investment that we now need to manage. And part of THAT process is finding a good tenant for your home. Most likely, another agent will bring a prospective tenant. Once they complete an application, we will have a credit check as well as a criminal background check completed by a national screening company that we work with. They check past rental references as well. If there are any unusual items on any of the reports, we can ask for further clarification and explanation. Ultimately, it is up to you to make a final decision on the prospective tenant. Of course, you must follow fair housing guidelines.

Fair Housing Act
Title VIII of the Civil Rights Act of 1968 (Fair Housing Act), as amended, prohibits discrimination in the sale, rental, and financing of dwellings, and in other housing-related transactions, based on race, color, national origin, religion, sex, familial status (including children under the age of 18 living with parents or legal custodians, pregnant women, and people securing custody of children under the age of 18), and disability. 

As part of your leasing process, you can limit the number of occupants (this too may be dictated by condominium rules and regulations), pets, smoking and other things. Like a waterbed. Does anybody even HAVE one anymore?

Move In and Walk Through

Whether you work with a property management company or a real estate agent that offers tenant placement services (which is what I do) you will want to conduct a thorough walk thru at the time the tenant takes possession of the condo. During this walk thru, the condition of everything is noted and documented on the walk through form! We will also take pictures if we feel it will help for clarification at the end of the lease. 

Renting out your Midtown Atlanta condo might seem scary, but we can certainly help it be a much easier and smoother process!

Filed Under: Atlanta Relocation, Blog, Condominiums of Midtown, Property Management Info, Real Estate Tips Tagged With: Atlanta Condos For Rent, Intown Atlanta Real Estate, Rental Tenants, Rental Tips

Why Don’t Real Estate Agents call me back about a Rental?

January 23, 2012 by Thom Abbott

midtown atlanta rentals, atlanta homes for rentIt is not so much that I have been directly asked why don’t real estate agents call me back about a rental. It is probably more about YOUR behavior as a potential renter that gets you no return phone calls. Let me tell you about your behavior as a potential renter.

You scour the Internet for all the options available to you. Varoius rental and real estate sites and of course the popular Craigslist. For every rental listing you see online that you think looks interesting, you call, text or email the listed contact about it. So, you in affect have contacted 3 or 5 or 7 or 9 different people about NINE different rental listings. Some you may have found one a particular real estate site (we’d hope it was the one you are on now!) or maybe on Craigslist. You have effectively put everyone in competition for your business. Well yes, and no. What you have done in reality, is diluted your chances of seeing few, if ANY of these listings.

 Why?

Unless the particular listing you have contacted me about is MY listing, you are asking me to show you one specific listing, while you are still contacting other people. Do I want to chase you for one listing? Here is a simpler way to put it. You are trying to date me, but at the same time, you are going out on dates with other people. And when I don’t respond because I KNOW you are dating other people, you ask why?

What if you could date one guy (or girl) and THEY could tell you everything about every other guy (or girl) in the bar. WOW! Would that not be the easiest way to find the perfect match. Well, let me introduce you to…..a real estate agent.

Search Atlanta Condos For RentBy “dating” one agent, that agent can show you and tell you about all the guys and girls in the bar. (all the condos or homes that are for rent in the area you are looking.) Ok, suppose you “stray” out of the bar, and you see this hot, awesome looking guy (or girl) at the hotdog stand (Craigslist) on the corner. And you say, “I have just GOT to talk to that one.” Well, instead of running over to them and gushing all over them, how about your run back inside and say to your date (your real estate agent) “hey, you have GOT to see the one I just found at the hotdog stand. It’s awesome!”

No problem, I head out to the hotdog cart on your behalf (contact that Craigslist posting) and get you the inside scoop on whether you really want to date them (rent that place, or if it’s even still available) and report back to you.

Now, the underlying difference in this whole process of finding a rental home versus finding a date is that one of us makes a living making these connections. THAT would be the real estate agent. But you see, if the real estate agent knows that he (or she) is going to spend an hour learning about that guy at the hot dog cart while you are running all around the bar hitting on other guys (or girls) (calling 3 or 5 or 7 or 9 other listings/agents) what do you suppose their real motivation and interest is going to be? Pretty slim.

You don’t make money dating (well not true…there are groups and firms that charge you to find you the perfect mate) but as a real estate agent I DO make money finding you a place to live. In fact, it’s exactly HOW  I am able to afford the place where I live.

What’s the moral to this story? Well, you can run all over the bar talking to all kinds of guys and girls, you can chase down the guy or girl at the hotdog cart, or you can find just one guy (ME) that you can ask all the questions, look at all the guys and girls in the bar you are interested in (all the rental listings in a particular neighborhood you want to live in) and find just the right one that fits you.

And you did it all with one call. So now, do you still wonder why don’t real estate agents call me back about a rental?

Atlanta Condos For Rent

Filed Under: Blog, Midtown Atlanta Condos For Rent, Property Management Info Tagged With: Atlanta Condos For Rent, Rental Tenants, Rental Tips

Broker Rental Referral Fees. What Difference Do They Make?

November 20, 2011 by Thom Abbott

Tenant Screening So you’ve decided to rent your Atlanta home or condominium? What Difference does the Broker Rental Referral Fee Make in renting my home? Do you remember the line from Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman when she walks back into the store on Rodeo Drive where the clerk would not help her? “Excuse me, do you work on commissions? Big Mistake! HUGE mistake!”  Well the same rule kind of applies when you (or your real estate agent) decides on what they will offer a co-op broker for a rental referral fee.  What? Let me explain it from the side of the listing agent and then the side from the co-op broker. You might think it the same as when you purchase real estate, but such is not the case.

Atlanta Homes For Rent

The Listing Agent and the Landlord

While every real estate agent may operate differently, most will charge you a one month fee, equal to the monthly rent. From there, they will offer to the real estate agent a portion of that amount, known as the Broker Rental Fee or co-op fee. This can range from 10% up to as much at 50%.  What does this matter to you as the Landlord?  In a nutshell, how quickly your home or condo will get rented….or not.

Believe it or not, real estate agents prefer NOT to work for free. And while your real estate agent should show you every rental listing that meets your requirements, it does come down to money. Plain and simple. Let’s look at an example.

Monthly Rental Rate:  $1500  (You pay your real estate agent this fee (one month) to find you a tenant and/or manage the property for you. We will talk about property management later) From this fee, they offer the co-op Broker 10%. That’s $150. That’s $150 for driving them around, perhaps showing 5, 10 or more listings before the prospective tenant makes a decision.  Not a great wage.

So look at the difference if YOUR agent offers a higher co-op fee:

  • 15% = $225
  • 20% = $300
  • 30% = $450

Can you see how a real estate agent might be more inclined to show YOUR listing if it had a higher co-op fee associated with it? Did it cost YOU more money for that higher co-op fee? That depends. Did your listing agent ask you to pay more than one month? Did your listing sit on the market, vacant for more than 1 month? Then it may have just cost you another month’s mortgage payment.

Atlanta Property ServicseThe Broker Co-op Fee and the Renter

So, you’ve seen how the co-op fee might affect how quickly your Atlanta home or condominium gets rented. Now, look at it from the agent’s view that is working with the tenant. Should I show a rental listing that is paying me $150 referral fee or a the one that is paying me $450? I didn’t do very well in economics, but I can probably guess which rental listing will get more traffic which will equal a faster lease.

If you are getting ready to lease your property, ask your Listing Agent what he/she will be offering as a co-cop fee. Broker Rental Referral Fees. What Difference Do They Make?

 

 

 

Filed Under: Atlanta Real Estate For Sale Or Rent, Blog, Property Management Info Tagged With: atlanta property management, Rental Tenants

Thom Abbott

Associate Broker, REALTOR(R)
905 Juniper Street, NE Suite 110
Atlanta, Georgia 30309
770.713.1505 Direct
404.876.4901 Office

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

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