Working Together with Your Fellow Agents

Rental Strategies by Rob Massey

RISMEDIA, September 1, 2008-With home sellers frustrated by the inability to sell their homes in many markets these days, the option of renting out their home for a period of time may very well have merit. But what if you are not in the business of leasing and managing homes? Or perhaps your office has a property management department and is interested in growing its portfolio? In either case, there are opportunities today for meeting these needs.

In the first example, the solution may lie in making arrangements with an experienced property manager for handling the leasing and management of your clients’ unsold property. An agreement can be reached with such an agent who regularly devotes time and resources to this specialty. As part of the understanding with this property manager, it can be agreed upon to have the owner of the property once again work with the listing agent when the time comes to market the property for sale.

In the second scenario, agents involved in property management are now presented with the occasion to significantly grow their business through marketing their services to other agents who have this need but who do not have management and leasing experience.

In some cases, agents who have properties listed for sale may request a property manager to attempt to rent out a house while they concurrently keep marketing it for sale. The thinking is that whichever outcome is successful first will determine the course of action.

From experience, I can forewarn anyone thinking about this approach to use extreme caution. Generally, it is not a good idea to mutually market a property for sale by one agent and for rent by another.

Soft sale markets present challenges and new opportunities for favorable outcomes. Be sure and look for the good when the bad is hitting your market.

Rob Massey, Jr., CPM, is founder of RentalHouses.com and a consultant for Rentals.com.

For more information, please visit www.rentals.com.