How proactive should a renters agent be?

[Anonymous]

We have hired an agent to help us rent our property. The agent has posted the property on various websites and that's about it. I feel like I could have done that. I expected something additional but I'm not sure what. What should a renter's agent be doing to find a renter other than sitting and waiting for people to respond to the website ads? Or am I expecting too much?

[Anonymous]

You expect too much. Real estate agents don't really do anything.

[gent.in.nwdc]

they will also filter out the riff raff applicants and verify wages and credit history

[Anonymous]

I used an agent to rent a MoCo townhouse. In terms of finding a tenant, I didn't expect anything other than posting the listing. When you have applicants, the agent will arrange for the background check. But there is no real marketing of a rental.

[Anonymous]

gent.in.nwdc wrote:they will also filter out the riff raff applicants and verify wages and credit history

Yep, that's the main reason you work with an agent to find a renter.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

gent.in.nwdc wrote:they will also filter out the riff raff applicants and verify wages and credit history

Yep, that's the main reason you work with an agent to find a renter.

They don't do that work. They just use services similar to houserie.

[Anonymous]

Agent don't get paid much to help you rent your house after the broker's split, agent split, & taxes. Basically a few hundred dollars to sift through riff raff as someone said and put you in the MLS, put their lockbox on the house and a sign in the yard, and deal with other agents & paperwork.
What do you expect for that? This stuff isn't free.

If the money isn't worth the convenience to you, then rent it yourself on Craigslist.

[Anonymous]

What would you expect them to do beyond posting the house on the most popular sites with effective marketing copy and good photos?

If you're not getting any applications, I'm guessing the rent's too damn high.

[Anonymous]

We always use craigslist to rent out our DC condo for just that reason. We can post it on a number of sites and show it ourselves - why pay someone? While I was waiting in the lobby to show our unit I talked to a realtor who was waiting to show another unit. He originally thought I was a realtor to and tried to commiserate about how little one makes on looking for renters. He even suggested that he puts very little effort into it (open houses, etc) since he makes more focusing on properties for sale. He was basically relying on craigslist to get it rented and just showing up to show it when someone contacted. Maybe you aren't able to do that though so that may be your benefit.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What would you expect them to do beyond posting the house on the most popular sites with effective marketing copy and good photos?

If you're not getting any applications, I'm guessing the rent's too damn high.

They should also show the place.

As a renter, I've found owners much easier to rent from - they are more responsive and eager to find a tenant. Realtors will make it harder to schedule an appointment, want you out of there in five minutes etc.

[Anonymous]

My last rental agent didn't even do the credit/ background checks- she charged an application fee that covered my expense to run the checks. She just put the house on MLS, showed it, and emailed me when someone applied so I could run their checks. Since the fee was 1 month's rent, she made about $250/ hour.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My last rental agent didn't even do the credit/ background checks- she charged an application fee that covered my expense to run the checks. She just put the house on MLS, showed it, and emailed me when someone applied so I could run their checks. Since the fee was 1 month's rent, she made about $250/ hour.

Except that the renter's agent got some too. So, not really.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My last rental agent didn't even do the credit/ background checks- she charged an application fee that covered my expense to run the checks. She just put the house on MLS, showed it, and emailed me when someone applied so I could run their checks. Since the fee was 1 month's rent, she made about $250/ hour.

Except that the renter's agent got some too. So, not really.

The renters didn't have an agent. But that reminds me that they paid first month's rent to the agent too, so that makes it about $500/ hr.

[Anonymous]

Renter of SFH here we were looking in the 4k-6k range which are some pretty nice houses. The only houses we looked at were ones the owners were renting out themselves. We would call the agents for other ones and wouldn't hear back, wouldn't meet us at the time agreed upon or one even told us to just go by whenever we wanted. It was so weird.

[Anonymous]

I'm an agent who has done rentals. They suck. They aren't worth it because it ends up being so little money.

You get a client. You show them 5-7 places, they find a place for around $2000 a month. The listing agent usually keeps 65% of the commission, so 35% of $2000 is $700, which I then have to split with my broker. So I get about $475 to spend a couple days showing places with a tenant, doing the lease, application, running checks around town for all of it, dealing with a non-responsive listing agent. It's not fun. It's definitely more than a few hours work. More like 7 hours. Not worth it. And that's why I don't do rentals or only do them if someone really begs me. It's not just the money, it's the opportunity cost of what I could have been doing with my day - even if that means spending it with my kids. Much more valuable to me then the $250 I'll have post-taxes and expenses.