How do I properly assess the rental market in a particular city? There are many ways to do this. First and foremost, if you can talk to professionals in the area you will be well ahead of the game. You can seek out real estate agents, mortgage brokers, property managers, and other investors. They can give you all the advice you will need about the rental market.

You can do a lot of research work on your own as well. This includes reading local newspapers and searching online. What are you looking for? Check the local listings to see how many properties are available. Additionally, make sure you watch for trends as the months go by. Are there more rental properties available now than last month? This may signify more competition. You can also search news sources for articles related to the renal and real estate markets.

Before investing in a particular area, no matter where it may be, make sure you assess the rental market.

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Assess the Rental Market in your area

A centrally located and modernly developed city, Charlotte reaps the benefits of multiple sources of public transportation. The Charlotte Area Transit System (CATS) operates mass transit options in the area including light rail, historical trolleys, express shuttles and bus services. One of the newest additions, which opened in late 2007, is the LYNX light rail also known as the Blue Line which runs in South Charlotte. The city is also served by three Amtrak routes, two major interstate highways and an international airport.

In today?s economy, owning a car or paying for gas might become a luxury many renters can?t afford. As such, property managers would do well to promote the ease and accessibility of these public transportation options in the Charlotte metro area.

To really drive the point home, if the unit is located near bus lines, link rail stations, or shuttle pick up areas, include the schedules, maps or pricing brochures with rental applications and a couple of free passes in welcome packets.

Focusing on location strengths is one of the keys to successful property management. Learn what your area has to offer, and make it a selling point for your available units

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Play Up the Strengths of Your Market

If you ask tenants what they want in a rental unit you’ll get a bunch of ideas but three things will remain constant. They want a fair price, a quality home and something that is convenient to them. Keep in mind that convenience means different things to different people.

Beyond the basics tenants are looking for some amenities that give them convenience and comfort. They like bigger bathrooms, generous kitchens, and they love storage. Many large rental units are adding fitness areas, co-op libraries, community space and other luxuries that actually don’t cost a lot for the property owner but add a lot of value to the residents.

Another trend that is catching on everywhere has hit rental units as well, is the green movement. If you’re looking to get socially and environmentally conscious tenants (usually very good tenants by the way) then incorporating as many ecofriendly aspects into your home are important.

And finally, if you’re looking to attract tenants, let them know what plusses your units offer. Advertise your highlights and gear them to the sort of tenant that you want and that best suits your environment.

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What do Renters Want

The first thing you should do is determine your expenses. Is there a mortgage? Are there additional fees related to maintenance or other items that you pay regularly. Figure out any depreciation and appreciation. Remember to add in your regular upkeep fees. This gives you an idea of what you need to survive and what would give you a nice profit. But this is not necessarily what you?ll be able to get from the market.

The next step is to review your local rental market and see what people are paying for similar properties. This is really the best indicator of what you can charge for your rental units. By pricing yourself too high for your local market you may risk having too many open units. By pricing your units too low you may not break even and you risk getting undesirable tenants.

If you find that you need much more than your local market accepts then you?re probably not going to be financially successful and it may be time to consider a different line of business or make some drastic changes to your business model.

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Determining What to Charge for Rent

Accidental landlords are cropping up all over as people are renting homes on a full time basis or they?re turning their vacation homes into vacation rentals. In either case you can serve as the landlord yourself and manage the property alone. This isn?t as daunting as it may seem as you only have one property to deal with and so the work should be pretty minimal. But remember that the most important thing about being a landlord, no matter how many properties you own, is getting good tenants, which means extensive screening.

If you decide to rent your vacation home on a long term basis you?ll only have to screen the tenants one time and then you won?t have to worry about it again. If you decide to open your property as a vacation home for a series of tenants you?ll have to go through the screening process several times, but then you?ll still have access to the home when it?s not in use.

Either way, you?re minimizing your losses and holding onto the property until the housing market turns around, which it eventually will do.

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Renting Your Second Home

Now some larger rental agencies may have a clause in your lease that lets you break a lease in the case of a job transfer or a move for any reason as long as you give a specified amount of notice.? This is the ideal situation as you simply have to follow the outlined procedure.

If your lease doesn’t have a clause that lets you terminate because of a move you’ll have to see if your landlord is willing to let you out of your lease. A lot of landlords understand that moves happen and if you’re up front and give them as much notice as possible they may be very willing to let you end your lease.

Some landlords aren’t nearly as flexible and they aren’t about to let go of a paying tenant while they have one. If this is your situation you can ask if the landlord will let you sublease the apartment, at least this way you can find a tenant yourself and recoup part of the expenses.

If you’ve got a great new employer and you can’t break the lease, see if the employer is willing to pay any of your moving expenses, this money can be used to pay part of your lease.

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Job Transfer and Ending your Lease

Go Green Inside?

Incorporate as many environmentally friendly and ecologically sound features as you can in your rental units. This is not only attractive to prospective renters but its cost efficient for you and the tenants. Also, if you do your research, some local areas give rebates or tax credits for installing environmentally sound features, such as water-saving toilets.

Go Green Outside?

Reevaluate your landscaping. A more attractive exterior helps with drive bys as it makes the property more appealing so add as much landscaping as you can.

Lighten Up?

Flood the interior with light as well lit places are more attractive to prospective renters and they appear larger. Add ceiling lights, track lighting, spot lights, lit stairwells, etc. You should also make sure the exterior is appropriately lit so that it’s safe and not attractive to prowlers, peeping toms and criminals.

Individualize Units

Living in a cookie cutter is not appealing to many people so try to individualize your units by offering some decorating differences in flooring, counters, cupboards or even layout. By promising tenants a unique unit you’re greatly increasing the appeal of your apartments.

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Apartment Trends 2009

Use Photographs of your Property

As they say, a picture is worth a 1000 words, so emphasize property highlights, show the inside of units and fill the website with photos to let prospective tenants know what you have to offer.

Be Positive but Honest

If writing really isn’t your thing, hire a freelance writer to help you create great text for your website. You want to be as positive as possible and sell the property but whatever you do, don’t lie, it will not only come to light in the future but may cause a load of problems.

Feature the Tenants

If you can get tenants to agree, have some of them give testimonials of how much they love living there and how nice the facilities are. Include photos of the tenants and try to show the diversity of the property to emphasize that you do not discriminate.

Convenience for All

Include downloadable application forms and other information so prospective tenants can take care of themselves as much as possible. You can also use the website to reach out to your current tenants and take their critiques and praise as well as maintenance requests. Your website can do a lot of the work for you and cut down on phone time.

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Landlords on the Web

Unemployment Rate and Economy

With the unemployment rate soaring and the economy diving, people are just not as interested in moving and they’re happy to stay put and try to eek out a living in a comfortable environment.

Where the Jobs Are

The once boom cities are becoming too expensive for many people and some of these places have been hit pretty hard by company closings so people are moving to find work or better economic markets so some landlords are feeling this pain.

Bad Housing Market

The U.S. is really seeing a dip in the value of homes on the market, but for renters this is an excellent time to buy. So if they’re secure in their jobs and income, why not take advantage of what basically amounts to a sale on houses across the nation.

More Bad Housing

Another effect of the bad housing market is that people are stuck with homes they can’t sell while they’ve already moved into another home, rather than letting these homes sit empty they are turning into accidental landlords and renters can get great deals on these homes.

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Why Are Rentals Down

Some of the most prominent myths are listed below with additional information which may change your mind about renting versus owning.

Is renting throwing away money while home ownership is building equity? Actually, for the first five years of your mortgage most of the money you are paying for your mortgage goes to pay interest only. You’re not actually creating equity until after five years and a third of all people move within those five years, meaning they never actually begin accumulating equity.

Are mortgage payments less than rent? It depends on what you decide to spend on rent or a mortgage, but keep in mind that there are a lot of hidden costs involved with homeownership and when there is a big expense or repair it is entirely your responsibility.

The third myth is that purchasing a home is a safe investment and the current U.S. housing market proves that this is simply a myth and nothing more.

So, if you’re not planning on staying in one place for a long time and you don’t have a good cushion for emergencies then renting may be a smarter move, especially until the housing market picks up.

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Debunking the Myth Renting is Throwing Money Away