I have been contacted by several potential renters wanting to know if my sellers are interested in renting their homes for a while rather than selling. I have been encountering more of these requests because prospective tenants are finding it difficult to secure rentals right now.
Most Sellers are not interested in a rental situation since they typically need to sell their home for one reason or another; hence the reason they listed the property for sale. If you have been looking for a home to rent, you are probably finding out, the rental market is very tight and competitive right now in Livermore, Pleasanton, Dublin, the Tri-Valley and the Bay Area in general.
The reason for this is because so many people have short sold or foreclosed on their properties and they have to rent for 2-3 years before they can buy again, even if they have the money to buy. What this means is that the rental market is saturated with prospective tenants, rental rates are increasing because of basic supply and demand, and homes are not staying vacant for long.
As a prospective renter, one thing you should know is that there are a lot of scammers out there pretending to be the owners of properties and renting them out to unsuspecting would be tenants. Many have re-keyed vacant properties and appear to be legit because they have the keys to the house.
Before signing a lease with anyone, make sure that they actually own the home. If you would like for us to check the county records for you, just send me an email with the property address and the name of the person who says they are the owner and I can do a county record search for you and let you know if they are they actual owners of the property. In most cases, the person will be legit, but just to cover yourself, send me the information and I will be happy to check it out for you for free.
In addition to the various places you may be looking for rental listings online,
you can search for rentals on my website for free at http://NoPressureRealty.com There is a rental widget on the right hand side when you scroll down the page where you can click on the city you are interested in or add your own city and search criteria. This will pick up some of the rentals by property management companies and some agents in the area. It will have apartments as well as houses, duets, etc.
You can also search for rentals by clicking on “homes for sale” at the top of this page and then click advanced search. There you will be able to select “rental” as a property type and add in your other search criteria. These results will show you homes listed by agents.
If you happen to see a property for rent that you would like to view using the “homes for sale” tool, let me know and I can make arrangements for you to see the property if it is still available since these homes require an agent to access them.
Most rental properties are leased within just a few days here, so do not delay if you see something you may like.
Craigslist and For Rent.com are also places to look for local rentals.
Good luck in your rental home search. When you are ready to buy a home in Livermore, Pleasanton, Dublin, Danville, the Tri-Valley, or a neighboring community, in the future or would like to learn about the home buying process and how you may qualify to buy a home with very little of your own money down, my team would be happy to assist you with that as well. Just send us a quick note via this site and we will be happy to assist you.
Good luck with your rental home search!
