I have had a few inquiries about doing a lease to own on several of the rentals I currently have listed. Through several discussions, I have formed an opinion that a rent to own option has many risks to both the landlord and the tenant. This does not mean a lease purchase is not a good idea, but it is important to understand the risk.
There is risk to the tenant - or potential investor - looking to capitalize on the soft New Tampa Real Estate by locking up a low price on a home now without having to purchase it. A lease or rent to own contract generally includes some amount of money to be deposited with the seller toward the purchase price, with additional principal paydown coming with each rent payment. At the end of the option period, typically 1-3 years, the tenant / buyer will have paid a significant amount toward the purchase price that will be "equity" once they exercise the option and close on the home. However, with so many landlords being upside down on the mortgage, the chances of the landlord profiting from a lease to own much lower, specially if the purchase price is close to the market value today. Why would a landlord agree to such an option then? Well, the dishonest ones could let their home fall into foreclosure and keep the extra deposit and equity deposited by the tenant.
This to me is the single biggest risk for someone looking to rent/buy using a lease purchase option today. What do you do if the owner stops making payments and falls into foreclosure? I am not a lawyer and I am sure plenty of lawyers will explain how to legally handle this situation, but the bottom line is a option to purchase a property at some point in time in the future does not prevent a lender from foreclosing on a homeowner that stops making mortgage payments. So, if you get a lease purchase contract from someone desperate to get out of their home with a 3 year option to purchase at a great price, the deal still could be too good to be true. In fact, even if they honor the contract, if the purchase price leaves the seller needing to bring money to the closing table and they do not have the funds, the deal could still fall through and the money given to the seller toward the purchase price could prove to be hard to cover. It is hard to get money from someone that does not have any and in this market there are many landlords that made a bad investment that have used up all of their assets.
For landlords, there is also risk. Giving an option to a tenant prevents the owner from being able to sell the home on the open market until the option expires. With home values in New Tampa dropping to levels last seen in 2004-2005, giving an option at these prices may not be the best investment decision to landlords. If the prices go up, the tenant can exercise the option and the landlord will lose the equity gained. The owner could be upside down on the mortgage and want to sell quickly if prices go up, but will not be able to. If the prices go down, the tenant will not exercise the option and the landlord will still be stuck with a home worth less. Then the owner will be looking at possibly offering another option at a lower price in order to attract another buyer/tenant. So, the question is why would an owner want to give an option? The only real answer is to "lock up a tenant" and minimize losses on a rental home. There is a better way to accomplish this by hiring a property management company that can find and place tenants quickly.
There is also another risk of a lease to own tenant. The tenant buyer could never be able to exercise their option due to credit issues or debt that prevents them from qualifying for a loan. When this realization occurs, the tenant will change from one living in a home to one they will eventually own, to one that feels they "lost" the equity they put into the home. This tenant could start to treat the home much differently and cause significant damage. The tenant could also stop paying and force the owner to evict them.
In the New Tampa market, the surplus of inventory has caused both rent and sale prices to decline since last year. Gambling on one or the other moving in a direction that will make this something to profit from, is more of the same speculative behavior that has hurt the New Tampa Real Estate market to begin with. It is something I will personally discourage for all owners and tenants in 2008.
Saturday, February 23, 2008
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
Rent New Tampa passes 300 Visits in a day
The Rent New Tampa website, www.rentnewtampa.com, has reached a milestone by surpassing 300 visitors in one day yesterday. While we do realize 300 visits is not considered to be a large number in the website world, for this particular business it is a very significant accomplishment.
Rent New Tampa provides property management services and rental listings to New Tampa, which comprises about a 24 square mile area and a population of 25,000 or so. With this population as the target audience, plus the others wishing to move into the area, 300 visitors in a single day is a very big deal.
The tenant prospects for New Tampa homes for rent use the web to find their next home. The newspaper ad days are long gone. Rent New Tampa is the local resource New Tampa tenant sources can turn to, with over 7500 visits in the last 30 days. These visits have resulted in more then 3000 page views of our Featured New Tampa Homes for Rent - that is over 100 times a day each of our customers properties are seen by a tenant prospect looking specifically for a New Tampa Rental Home!
Rent New Tampa has long held the opinion that search engine optimization for "New Tampa rentals" was essential for any property management company to serve this market. Our dominance in this regard, out pacing powerhouses such as rentals.com and craigslist.org has helped us establish a loyal base that grows each day someone else searches Google, Yahoo or MSN for any type of New Tampa rental home. Other property management companies in the area do not even appear in the first 4 pages of a Google for New Tampa rentals - it could be further, after there was nothing on the first four pages I stopped looking as any tenant prospect would have long before.
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
New Tampa Property Management Blog Hits Page 2 on Google
The website for Rent New Tampa, Inc. - http://www.rentnewtampa.com - has long been #1 on Google for a search for New Tampa Property Management. When I checked this morning, this blog had moved into the 8th spot on page two of the search for New Tampa Property Management.
It is our intention to continue to provide current and relevant Property Management information about the New Tampa area specifically and hope Google will continue to smile upon this blog and get us onto the first page.
It is our intention to continue to provide current and relevant Property Management information about the New Tampa area specifically and hope Google will continue to smile upon this blog and get us onto the first page.
Sunday, February 17, 2008
Who is looking for a New Tampa Home for Rent?
Last year, I wrote an article titled "Who Is Looking For A New Tampa Rental Home?". Considering the market has changed a bit in the last year, I thought now would be a good time to revisit this subject and discuss the tenant prospects for New Tampa Homes for Rent.
Like last year, the slow New Tampa Real Estate market has led many would be sellers to become landlords. Since finding a tenant is generally the first order of business for most and the days of placing an ad in the local paper to find a tenant are over, knowing who is looking for a rental home and how to find them is very important.
There are many different types of people searching for a rental home. These reasons are typically overlooked by landlords that had not planned on renting their home, but the needs of these tenant prospects vary and one must demonstrate the ability to meet these needs in order to have them submit an application. A closer look at the types of people looking for a rental home in New Tampa will better prepare the owner for the reality of the New Tampa rental market.
Some of the rental prospects in any market are people with good income and excellent credit that have just decided to rent instead of buy. While many homeowners do not completely understand why people make this decision, every landlord wants the ideal tenant with good income, credit and no criminal background. The number of people that fall into this category has risen the past year as some are more fearful of buying as the prices were declining.
The surplus of rental homes available in New Tampa has created a new type of tenant... those that save a substantial amount on housing by renting instead of buying. This is most true on the higher end homes, but it certainly applies to almost anything in New Tampa right now. Many do the math and realize that for $2,000/month they can live in a home that would cost about $1,000/month more to live in if purchased. An example would be a New Tampa Pool Home offered for sale at $400,000, that is also listed for rent for $1,950/month. Even with a 20% down payment, the $320,000 mortgage would have a monthly payment of ~$1900 just to cover principal and interest. Typically, the taxes, CDD, HOA and insurance will amount to another $1,000/month or so. In this scenario, a family would save more then $10,000/year renting instead of buying. Since short term price appreciation of homes can not be expected in 2008, renting is simply the safer way to save.
Perhaps the biggest change from last year, however, has been the rapid increase of tenant prospects that are displaced homeowners that have been through a foreclosure, short sale or some other removal from a home they owned and simply could not afford. These tenants typically have poor credit scores from recent events and/or had bad credit but qualified for a home they could not afford due to loose mortgage standards. Dealing with tenant prospects that are moving because of failure to pay a housing payment in the past should be more of a concern for landlords. As the tenant prospect has already demonstrated poor judgment by purchasing a home they could not really afford, the landlord must be sure they are not once again making a poor judgment on renting a home they also can not afford. In many cases, these prospects are more concerned with the size they need, to match the home they are leaving, then the actual income they have to put toward housing. A landlord MUST be certain to make sure a tenant such as this can really afford to live in their home to avoid having to evict a tenant.
The rest of the tenant prospects should fit into one or more of these categories:
- Moving to the area, want to rent before buying and are real candidates to buy a home.
- Moving to area and need to rent before buying because their home is under construction. This is not as common in 2008 as it was in 2007, but it still does happen.
- Moving to the area and need to rent and are not necessarily potential buyers.
- Sold their home and need to rent for financial or other reasons.
- Don't like their current New Tampa rental home and want a better place to rent.
- Need a bigger rental unit then the one they currently reside in.
- Forced to move because Landlord sold or is planning to sell the home.
- USF Students that need housing in the area but away from campus.
- Separation and those in the middle of a divorce that need to stay locally.
- Credit issues limit some tenant prospects from being able to buy.
- Temporary transplants for a local job.
- Military transplants that are willing to commute. While MacDill is a bit of a drive for some, others are still drawn to the New Tampa community.
- Just prefer renting.
It will be important for the person responsible for finding and placing the tenant to know how to react to the needs of each tenant prospect. Remember, these are people looking for a place to call home, so any level of insecurity could cause them to go elsewhere. Many times the homeowners get to caught up in personal needs that they forget this simple fact.
New Tampa is still a market in transition and more agents are starting to look more closely at the rental market and providing tenant placement services to owners that could not sell their homes. However, being licensed and thus having the ability to charge a landlord to rent their house does not take the place of a properly trained professional that has a proven track record for finding a tenant. Beyond just identifying a tenant that is interested in a home, there are other aspects of placing a tenant that are critical to ensuring a successful landlord-tenant relationship. Make sure you only trust your investment to a professional property manager.
Friday, February 15, 2008
Featured New Tampa Homes for Rent Available for Immediate Occupancy
| »New Tampa Townhome Rental $1,200.00 | ||
 | Area: | Canterbury Trail |
| City / State / Zip: | Tampa / FL / 33647 | |
| Bathrooms: | 2.5 | |
| Bed: | 3 | |
| School District: | Hillsborough | |
| Square Feet: | 1741 | |
| WaterFront: | no | |
| »New Tampa Condo Rental $795.00 | ||
 | Area: | Portofino |
| City / State / Zip: | Tampa / FL / 33647 | |
| Bathrooms: | 1 | |
| Bed: | 1 | |
| School District: | Hillsborough | |
| Square Feet: | 843 | |
| WaterFront: | no | |
| »New Tampa Home Rental $1,500.00 | ||
 | Area: | Pebble Creek |
| City / State / Zip: | Tampa / FL / 33647 | |
| Bathrooms: | 2 | |
| Bed: | 3 | |
| School District: | Hillsborough | |
| Square Feet: | 1750 | |
| WaterFront: | no | |
| »New Tampa Home Rental $1,295.00 | ||
 | Area: | Tampa Palms |
| City / State / Zip: | Tampa / FL / 33647 | |
| Bathrooms: | 2 | |
| Bed: | 3 | |
| School District: | Hillsborough | |
| Square Feet: | 1350 | |
| WaterFront: | yes | |
| »New Tampa Home Rental $1,950.00 | ||
 | Area: | Cross Creek |
| City / State / Zip: | Tampa / FL / 33647 | |
| Bathrooms: | 3 | |
| Bed: | 4 | |
| School District: | Hillsborough | |
| Square Feet: | 2850 | |
| WaterFront: | no | |
| »Land O Lakes Townhome Rental $975.00 | ||
 | Area: | Stage Coach |
| City / State / Zip: | Land o Lakes / FL / 34639 | |
| Bathrooms: | 2.5 | |
| Bed: | 2 | |
| School District: | Pasco | |
| Square Feet: | 1365 | |
| WaterFront: | yes | |
| »New Tampa Home Rental $1,295.00 | ||
 | Area: | Heritage Isle |
| City / State / Zip: | Tampa / FL / 33647 | |
| Bathrooms: | 2 | |
| Bed: | 3 | |
| School District: | Hillsborough | |
| Square Feet: | 1480 | |
| WaterFront: | no | |
| »New Tampa Condo Rental $995.00 | ||
 | Area: | The Villas |
| City / State / Zip: | Tampa / FL / 33467 | |
| Bathrooms: | 2 | |
| Bed: | 3 | |
| School District: | Hillsborough | |
| Square Feet: | 1448 | |
| WaterFront: | no | |
| »New Tampa Condo Rental $1,075.00 | ||
 | Area: | The Villas |
| City / State / Zip: | Tampa / FL / 33647 | |
| Bathrooms: | 2 | |
| Bed: | 2 | |
| School District: | Hillsborough | |
| Square Feet: | 1349 | |
| WaterFront: | yes | |
| »New Tampa Condo Rental $875.00 | ||
 | Area: | The Villas |
| City / State / Zip: | Tampa / FL / 33647 | |
| Bathrooms: | 2 | |
| Bed: | 2 | |
| School District: | Hillsborough | |
| Square Feet: | 1168 | |
| WaterFront: | no | |
Wednesday, January 9, 2008
New Tampa Rental Market Update
The MLS can provide a good indication about the New Tampa Rental market. By looking at the Rental Homes in New Tampa that rented in the last few months, along with the current inventory, we will be able to make some analysis of the current rental market and what homeowners must do to ensure their home gets rented in the least amount of time.
Currently, there are 211 properties listed for rent on the MLS in the 33647 zip code. This number has been steadily climbing the past few months. The communities with more then 4 active listings per subdivision are as follows:
Arbor Greene (Single Family Homes) - 15
Canterbury Trail (Townhomes) - 8
Cory Lake Isle (Single Family Homes) - 19
Cross Creek (Single Family Homes) - 10
Equestrian Park (Condos) - 4
Faircrest (Townhomes) - 6
Grand Hampton (Single Family Homes) - 20
Heritage Isle (Single Family Homes & Townhomes) - 9
Hunter's Green (Single Family Homes) - 7
Live Oak Preserve (Single Family Homes & Townhomes) - 26
Pebble Creek (Single Family Homes & Villas) - 5
Stone Ridge and Stone Creek - (Townhomes) - 7
Tampa Palms - (Single Family Homes, Townhomes & Condos) - 27
The Hammocks - (Townhomes) - 14
The Highlands at Hunter's Green (Condos) - 8
The Villas (Condos) - 9
West Meadows (Single Family Homes) - 8
From December 1, 2007 - January 9, 2008 there have been twenty six (26) properties listed as Rented in New Tampa. Fourteen (14) of these were rented in December and the other twelve (12) in January according to the MLS data. Considering the holiday and the fact that twenty one (21) homes were listed as rented in November 2007, it is likely that many of the twelve (12) properties rented so far this month could actually be attributed to December. Counting the properties in November, 47 properties have rented in the past 69 days.
At the pace of 47 properties every 69 days, that would be 309 days to rent all of the properties currently on the market - and this does not take into account any of the rental properties that will come back onto the New Tampa rental market. During the peak period of 2007 (April 1 - July 31) an average of 28 homes rented every month, with a high of 38 in July. Needless to say, even at a rate of one property renting every day, there is still 7 months of inventory.
What does this all mean? Well, a few things must be considered first. It is likely, and probable in fact, that many homes that have been rentals for a while were not listed on the MLS last year, but are being listed now - because homeowners are finding it more difficult to find tenants this year then in years past. With that being the case, the true "rental rate" that can be seen in the MLS is likely significantly higher then what can be determined in the MLS. Also, with so much supply and rental prices dropping as homeowners look to do anything to get a tenant, many would be buyers are finding it makes much more sense to rent since they can do so for a fraction of the cost for a comparable home.
Unfortunately, even if the historical rental rate is higher then what can be seen in the MLS and more people continue to decide to rent then to buy, it is likely that a portion of the current units listed for rent on the MLS will NOT GET RENTED IN 2008! This is certainly not great news for anyone, particularly those that are reluctant to drop rental prices in an effort to increase demand.
Price is not the only differentiator a tenant will consider, but given the current quantity of homes available in just the 33647 zip code, it would be wise for any Landlord to ensure their home is listed at a competitive price in TODAYS MARKET.
Currently, there are 211 properties listed for rent on the MLS in the 33647 zip code. This number has been steadily climbing the past few months. The communities with more then 4 active listings per subdivision are as follows:
Arbor Greene (Single Family Homes) - 15
Canterbury Trail (Townhomes) - 8
Cory Lake Isle (Single Family Homes) - 19
Cross Creek (Single Family Homes) - 10
Equestrian Park (Condos) - 4
Faircrest (Townhomes) - 6
Grand Hampton (Single Family Homes) - 20
Heritage Isle (Single Family Homes & Townhomes) - 9
Hunter's Green (Single Family Homes) - 7
Live Oak Preserve (Single Family Homes & Townhomes) - 26
Pebble Creek (Single Family Homes & Villas) - 5
Stone Ridge and Stone Creek - (Townhomes) - 7
Tampa Palms - (Single Family Homes, Townhomes & Condos) - 27
The Hammocks - (Townhomes) - 14
The Highlands at Hunter's Green (Condos) - 8
The Villas (Condos) - 9
West Meadows (Single Family Homes) - 8
From December 1, 2007 - January 9, 2008 there have been twenty six (26) properties listed as Rented in New Tampa. Fourteen (14) of these were rented in December and the other twelve (12) in January according to the MLS data. Considering the holiday and the fact that twenty one (21) homes were listed as rented in November 2007, it is likely that many of the twelve (12) properties rented so far this month could actually be attributed to December. Counting the properties in November, 47 properties have rented in the past 69 days.
At the pace of 47 properties every 69 days, that would be 309 days to rent all of the properties currently on the market - and this does not take into account any of the rental properties that will come back onto the New Tampa rental market. During the peak period of 2007 (April 1 - July 31) an average of 28 homes rented every month, with a high of 38 in July. Needless to say, even at a rate of one property renting every day, there is still 7 months of inventory.
What does this all mean? Well, a few things must be considered first. It is likely, and probable in fact, that many homes that have been rentals for a while were not listed on the MLS last year, but are being listed now - because homeowners are finding it more difficult to find tenants this year then in years past. With that being the case, the true "rental rate" that can be seen in the MLS is likely significantly higher then what can be determined in the MLS. Also, with so much supply and rental prices dropping as homeowners look to do anything to get a tenant, many would be buyers are finding it makes much more sense to rent since they can do so for a fraction of the cost for a comparable home.
Unfortunately, even if the historical rental rate is higher then what can be seen in the MLS and more people continue to decide to rent then to buy, it is likely that a portion of the current units listed for rent on the MLS will NOT GET RENTED IN 2008! This is certainly not great news for anyone, particularly those that are reluctant to drop rental prices in an effort to increase demand.
Price is not the only differentiator a tenant will consider, but given the current quantity of homes available in just the 33647 zip code, it would be wise for any Landlord to ensure their home is listed at a competitive price in TODAYS MARKET.
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