Property Management – Canoga Park

Canoga Park Property Management

Tarzana – Chatsworth

Winnetka

What Is The Rental Rush?

by Tara Armbruster in Real Estate

Across the country, the “rental rush” is starting to set in, and for the first time since the housing market bubble busted in 2008, home prices are at the highest ever. The housing prices are having an unintended effect on the rental market, which has led to a growth spark within the property management industry as a whole.

Rental Rush Factors
A combination of factors has caused this massive shift and is driving the rental rush, some of which include:

• The rise in new and previously owned home prices
• The decrease in the price of rentals from 2009 until 2011, which is helping those families with high rental costs

Lowest Rental Vacancies Since the Housing Crash
According to the American Housing Survey data compiled by the U.S. Census Bureau, the number of families renting single-family homes has increased, and rental vacancies are at their lowest rate in years. In fact, the U.S. Census Bureau report shows that Los Angeles and New York have the lowest rental vacancy numbers at 50.8 percent and 48.9 percent of rentals rented, respectively.

The report also shows that the number of families that have rented single-family homes increased to 38 million, and the Bureau expects that number to increase even more over the next two years – up to 41 million rentals of single-family homes.

Overall, according to the report, the prices of homes for sale have increased so much since the low of 2008 that it resulted in residential renter-occupied housing having increased overall by about 34 percent, although in some cities, these numbers top out at about 70 percent.

The question is how can property managers take advantage of this rental rush on and offline?
According to a press release issued July 3 of this year, property owners who rent these single-family homes are beginning to understand the need for property managers. Because the nature of the property management industry is to make renting simple for property owners, a good number of landlords who initially had no intention of renting their homes out to others are hiring managers for their properties for a number of reasons. Some issues property managers take care of include:

• Collecting rent, security, and other monies
• Tenant screenings including background and credit checks at times
• Handling problem tenants, evictions, and neighbor complaints
• Managing property maintenance

Software as a Solution
With the increasing demand for rental properties comes increasing need for property managers, all of whom must find a way to take advantage of the rental rush and help the property owners at the same time. Fortunately, property management software is available that can help them accomplish the task.

The features available from the software can help quell the anxieties of managers whom have seen an increase in demand for their services. Some of the basic options include everything from website design and online rental application collection to collecting rent online, workflow and work order management, and tenant screenings. Each of these aspects of the software helps save time, decrease stress, and decrease vacancies.

Predicted Rental Trends
The demand for property management services has increased with the increase in rentals, and the demand will continue to grow over the next five years. Only about 50 percent of current renters plan to purchase a home. That number is an overall decrease from the last five years of available Census data.

Considering the coming rental trends predicted by the Census Bureau, scalable software solutions make streamlining on and offline rental management needs a no-brainer. Helping property managers keep up with the rental rush is accomplished efficiently, making property owners happy –one main aspect of property management that keeps the property owners coming back for services, and keeps renters in the properties longer.

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