Brooke Hengst's Blog

With vacancy rates anywhere between only 1 and 2% right now, it can be tough to find a rental property for those seeking a place to live.  Here are a couple tips for those looking for rental properties. 

-  Be proactive!!!  When you see something that looks like a good fit, JUMP ON IT!!  Call and be ready to fill our a lease application and have your deposit money ready to go! 

-  PICK UP THE PHONE!  If you want to find out information on a property, call someone rather than email.  Be ready to go take a look at the property and refer to the information above about being proactive. 

-  Note that landlords would prefer those who can commit to a lease that is at least 12 months.  If you are able to commit to this, let the landlord know this up front! 

-  Here are a couple good websites for searching for rentals:  www.craigslist.org, www.move.com www.rentals.com, www.rent.com, www.hotpads.com.

FOR THOSE RENTING NOW:
- RENEW YOUR LEASE NOW if you plan to stay!!  With the supply and demand of rental properties, landlords have every right to raise rents.  Negotiate the terms of your lease now to eliminate any unexpected annoucements from your landlord that the rent is being increased. 

- KNOW YOUR BUYING POWER!!!  Did you know that Buyers have never had as much buying power than you do RIGHT NOW??!  If you have any questions about this - contact me today! 

Thanks,
Brooke Hengst
REALTOR, CDPE
Your Castle Real Estate
(720) 988 5952
bhengst1@gmail.com
www.brookehengst.com

Seeing what is happening with rental vacancies being at an all time LOW, it only makes sense that rental rates up increased.  I’m surprised that Denver is not in the top 10 seen below.

Feel free to read the entire article at the link below:

http://www.inman.com/news/2011/01/24/cheaper-buy-rent-in-72-largest-us-cities

We have just received the 4th quarter rent/vacancy report for the Denver Metro area and rental vacancies are down to 2%!!  This is great news for landlords or for anyone looking to invest in real estate for buy and holds.  We’ve seen the vacancy rate inching down consistently due to all of the short sales and foreclosures.  The folks that are losing their homes have to live somewhere.

If you have interest in this report, please contact me at bhengst1@gmail.com and I can send it your way.

9News just did a news report on a local craigslist scam that involved homeowners and folks looking to rent a home.  I actually encountered this situation a couple months ago with a couple that had stop by a property that I was showing to clients.  When I spoke to the couple that had seen the home on craigslist, they had an ad in hand that advertised the property for a fraction of the actual rent price and included bogus photos.

Please take a moment to real and share this information and DON’T wire any money to someone that you have not met.

http://www.9news.com/news/article.aspx?storyid=176062&catid=188

With now being an amazing time to look into investing in real estate, I get a lot of folks who are wondering what certain properties will rent for.  Without having rentals advertised in the MLS, sometimes this information can be a little tricky to find and feel confident in.  Here are a couple websites you can also look to get more information.

http://www.rentals.com/Colorado/Denver/houses-and-homes-property-ty
http://www.rentometer.com/pages/tenant
http://www.zilpy.com

Let me know if you have any other feedback regarding these sites or any other sources that YOU find helpful!  I am always looking for more resources and helpful tips to share with my clients.