Rental Househunter - Tracking down the news for Landlords, Renters / Tenants...

December 6, 2007
New features for Landlords
We are currently working on a joint project with one of the top landlording websites out on the Internet. For those of you that have followed RentalHousehunter.com over the past several months, you probably know which site it is.

Stay tuned to early Jan. 2008, when we unveil a new service that should make landlords very happy.

To give you a hint, it has to do with "personalized-landlord" Internet space for you, the landlord.

October 22, 2007
Rent.com vs. RentalHousehunter.com - What's the difference?
You probably already knew, but just in case...

Rent.com provides a $100 bonus to those renters who find and lease their new apartment from their website. As a business owned by e-Bay, they can provide such a bonus to you. Their website predominately caters towards apartment complexes and to a lesser extent, rental houses or townhomes.

In contrast, Rental Househunter caters mainly to the rental house or townhome niche, to help them fill their vacancy.

In an effort to provide the greatest number of listings for our renters, we will now provide a way to view Rent.com apartment listings from our website. We hope this helps you in your search for your next place to live.

October 15, 2007
More Website Upgrades
As Rental Househunter continues to upgrade our services, we recently have rolled out an upgrade to the Landlord Registration process. When submitting a rental listing to our site, you can now upload up to eight (8) images of your property. This is double the number of images than we used to allow. Please check back in the coming weeks for more upgrades.

October 3, 2007
Upcoming Website Upgrades
Rental Househunter is in the middle of changing up our website. First of all, we updated the look and feel of the site not too long ago, along with adding the Photo Slideshow on the Rental Property "More Details" page. In addition to these changes, we have more upgrades in store for the near future, including:

• A mapping feature for each listing
• An increase of up to 8 images to be uploaded to your listing
• A more seamless integration with Craigslist ads

Please keep checking back with us as we continue to upgrade RentalHousehunter.com!

September 14, 2007
Craigslist Advertising vs. Newspaper Classifieds
Do you know anyone who has ever tried advertising just in the newspaper classifieds, but weren't able to generate any interest in their property? We've heard this complaint many times and have come up with a formidable solution.

Instead of putting all of your money into that one advertisement, it's much more worth your money to use an online service such as Craigslist.org. Craigslist has been one of the top 20 websites in all of the Internet over the past two years.

Pair their service with a link to your Rental Househunter ad and you will receive a dramatic boost in your targeted leads, along with finding a renter much faster.

September 5, 2007
Rental Househunter - Website Redesign
Over the next week or so, you will probably notice a few changes with RentalHousehunter.com. We are upgrading the "look-and-feel" of the page layout and navigation. The last re-design was done back in 2004, so we definitely thought a change was in store.

August 30, 2007
Money Magazine Interview
Our friend Jeffrey Taylor, also known as MrLandlord, was recently quoted in the September 2007 edition of Money Magazine. The article was about unloading a house in a not-so-hot Real Estate Market or holding on to it as a rental. Jeffrey's quote had to do with new landlords and taking precautions.

August 22, 2007
New Checkout Method
As a measure to constantly stay on top of technology, we have recently switched over to Google Checkout. For those who do not know, Google Checkout accepts the top 4 major credit cards (Visa, Mastercard, Discovery, and American Express) and provides an extremely secure method for accepting payments (what else would you expect from Google?).

Click here to view more information about Google Checkout.

August 08, 2007
Rental Househunter - Showing tremendous web growth in 1 year
Here's a quick view of how the number of visitors have increased at RentalHousehunter.com over the past year. The chart below shows that back in July and August of 2006, we were hovering around 10,000-15,000 visits.

Since then (over the past several months), we've worked quite hard at attracting an influx of new tenants and landlords to the site.

August 06, 2007
Landlord and Tenant News
Are tenants held liable for damage that they weren't responsible for?

Any landlords wondering how best to market an occupied rental property?

Are 30-year loans really the best option for your rental property?

Are you looking for other options besides Zillow.com?

Ever wonder how you can find out who owns a house next door, after they've mysteriously moved out months ago?

August 03, 2007
It's better when we're together
Okay, we know that the title of today's message is a lyric in one of our favorite songs (and hopefully your's too - by Jack Johnson - if you don't know). We think it's rather fitting for what we learned with our web statistics this week.

Rental Househunter went over the 40,000 visitor threshold for July 2007. Currently, we're receiving a ton of visitors who are searching for rental properties. Landlords, get your listings online soon to take advantage.

July 2007 - Landlord and Tenant News Archive

July 26, 2007
Landlord & Tenant News
This interesting news in the Fairfax County Times out of Vienna, VA shows that the rental market is currently hotter than the Real Estate sales market.

Rental prices are definitely increasing in Boston, MA. What's the status in your neck of the woods?

We thought all Landlords complied with the government. These 160 delinquent landlords must not have gotten the notice in Salisbury, MD.

We saw before where Northern VA was benefiting from the stronger rental market. Check out how Denver, CO is doing (as vacancy rates have fallen).

July 17, 2007
Okay, we've got - EXCITING NEWS!!
Us "rental tech geeks" here at Rental Househunter are becoming more and more excited by the growth and sheer volume of visits being made to our site each day.

For the month of July 2007, we are on pace to receive over 40,000 visits to our Rental Website. We are finding that there is a growing number of interested tenants who are desperately searching this site to search for available rentals.

To give you an idea of our traffic growth, check out the table below. It shows the percent increase quarter over quarter (over the past year).

July 15, 2007
Landlord and Tenant News
Did anybody else show up for this year's Annual American Rental Hog Roast?

Are new property owners allowed to increase an existing tenants' rental payment?

Ever heard of "Home-rule" in the rental industry?

We've all heard about a real estate crash. But a rental crash? It could be coming in some locations.

This is finally some good news -- $262 million has been set aside to help Mississippi Rental Property owners rebuild due to damage from Hurricane Katrina and Rita.

July 1, 2007
Landlord and Tenant News
Have you ever had to spend large amounts of money to evict a tenant, but still not get all of your rent money back?

The Daily Herald (out of Chicago) talks about how all landlords in Des Plaines, IL have been invited to a hearing to figure out how to hold tenants responsible for illegal behavior.

Trying to find a hot rental market? Cape Cod definitely has it going on. Check out this Boston.com report.

Since the price of land has dramatically increased over the past 2-3 years, this NewsDay article shows how developers in Long Island, NY are backing off on some rental property projects.

A group of real estate investors out in California are suing Centex Homes for $25 million. Do you agree with their lawsuit?

June 2007 - Landlord and Tenant News Archive

June 21, 2007
Landlord and Tenant News
Just when you thought landlording was getting easy… A town in Baltimore pays $800,000 / year in collection and disposal of evicted tenants belongings.

Ever heard of a "slum landlord"?

Are you a landlord who doesn’t pay your fees? Some locations around the U.S are thinking about taking away your Rental Property owner permits.

Why don’t so many tenants in college towns get their down-payments back?

Are you looking for a new, Internet-based Property Management tool? Check out Property Master.

In addition, we continue to work with MrLandlord.com to develop ways of integrating our websites better with each other.

Finally, we'd like to start providing you with our monthly web traffic stats along with showing you how tenants are finding our website. This will be a big plus for you and your Rental Property Listing, as it will show how Google, Yahoo, MSN, AskJeeves, etc. plays together with our website.

Stay tuned!

Kune 15, 2007
What's going on at Rental Househunter
We here ar Rental Househunter have big plans with this site over the next few months. Our first line of business is to add a mapping tool to the website to show where our rental property listings are located in a particular area.

June15, 2007
Landlord and Tenant News
Over-crowding and public safety issues have come up in this Boston, MA community. The government is stepping in and inspecting Rental Properties as a precaution.

Landlords can now have their tenants cars towed.

Landlords in this location are getting "friendly phone calls" from the McMaster Student Union due to eyesore Rental Properties.

Is it true that landlords don't care as long as they get their money?

June 06, 2007
Landlord and Tenant News
Are you still thinking about becoming a landlord? Check out these recommendations before taking the leap.

Think you know everything about being a landlord? See how this Rochester, NY landlord got in trouble and then got praised for it.

Some rental property taxes end up not being too bad, even with 5 rental units for one landlord.

Does your rental home have a swimming pool?

June 02, 2007
Landlord and Tenant News
Just what should landlords do to items that are left behind in a rental property?

Have you really ever needed a reason to build your own home? These landlords explain their case...

What are the best ways for tenants to get their security deposit back?

Why are more home owners trying to rent out their home? A number of properties in Ann Arbor, Michigan are listed at double the rent price as last year.

May 2007 - Landlord and Tenant News Archive

May 31, 2007
Did everyone miss this news?
Primedia, who owns RentClicks.com, RentalHouses.com, HomeRentalAds.com and Rentals.com was recently purchased for $1.2 BILLION by Source Interlink. We don't know if this just slipped through the cracks or what, but $1.2 billion?

A few years back, eBay purchased Rent.com for a hefty $420 million at the time.

May 31, 2007
RentClicks.com, RentalHouses.com, HomeRentalAds.com and Rentals.com finally switches over to WebTrends
It looks like our buddies over at RentClicks.com, RentalHouses.com, HomeRentalAds.com and Rentals.com (who are all owned by Primedia) are finally switching over to WebTrends as their web statistic tool. This doesn't mean much for Landlords or tenants, but it should help them analyze their incoming traffic a little better and get each site on the same reporting platform.

One key to our readers is that they might start to make their web statistics public. Currently, Rental Househunter uses SmarterStats -- which gives us a great amount of web analysis and portion of the price!

May 30, 2007
30,000+ Landlords & Tenants - Help us keep growing
This month, we've registered 30,000+ visitors to our site so far. Imagine yourself placing your rental ad listing on Rental Househunter and being seen by 30,000+ visitors throughout the month. Placing a "Featured Property" listing will do just that for you! Your listing will appear on our front page and on your state's front page until you find a renter.

We continually strive to make Rental Househunter the industry leader and have developed strategic partnerships with the likes of MrLandlord.com. We have some big plans coming up, so keep checking back (every hour) to see what's new!

May 29, 2007
Tuesday morning news...
Some people think that being a landlord is just a big retirement scheme...

Florida landlords just missed out on being able to charge a fee if their tenant breaks their lease.

Any tenants out there who have been forced to move out of their rental? Check out what Big Brother is doing out in New Jersey.

These Wisconsin lawmakers are trying to get landlords to become licensed.

Ever heard of "vacancy decontrol"? (ie: the act of increasing rent, when new tenants move in)

May 24, 2007
Thursday morning news...
How in the world did these Berkeley, CA landlords ever get away with collecting rent from dead people?

How did these house-flippers get in trouble with the law?

It's a shame what some tenants have to do, when their landlords don't foot the repair bills.

Is your landlord slow to follow up on maintenance requests?

Have you ever thought about taking a course to reduce crime and increase profitability as a landlord?

May 22, 2007
Tuesday morning news...
Ever decided to dress like John Wayne to collect your tenant's rent?

Some areas of Missouri are trying to force Landlords to register with the city. Check out the proposed Landlord ordinance.

Who really is the victim? The Landlord or the Tenant?

Do you have any renters in the Section 8 Program?

We know that you're not these type of Landlords -- but make sure that you don't rent to pirated discs retailers.

May 18, 2007
The National Landlords Convention
We hope all of our Landlord friends have signed up to attend the National Landlords Convention in Nashville, TN. For those who cannot make it this year, don't forget about MrLandlord's annual cruise which attracts Property Owners of all kinds each year.

Friday morning news...
Have you noticed tighter scrutiny on mortgage requests?

What do Bob Costas, Oscar De La Hoya, and Heather Randall have in common? Check out they prices their selling their condos / apartments for.

The number of foreclosures per month have increased every month, except for Apr 2007. What's happening?

If you are buying a home for short term wealth, think again.

May 15, 2007
Two more days left to register for the National Landlords Convention
Don't miss out on this year's convention! It starts May 17 and lasts three days in Nashville, TN. The entire convention is sponsored by our favorite landlord - MrLandlord - Jeffrey Taylor.

Register now - it's quick and easy!

Today's Rental News...
Do you ever like to look back at past articles to see if what people said back then, really came true? We do, here's an article from 2 years ago that talks about buying up properties, renting them out to earn a cashflow, and then selling them a few years later for a huge gain.

Here's another good article from 5 years ago, which marks one of the first times that the phrase "Real Estate Bubble" comes up (in this decade).

Has being a Landlord today, changed at all from just 2 years ago?

May 12, 2007
Five days left to register for the National Landlords Convention
Don't miss out on this year's convention! It starts May 17 and lasts three days in Nashville, TN. The entire convention is sponsored by our favorite landlord - MrLandlord - Jeffrey Taylor. We'll keep reminding you until you sign up. You have just over one week to register!

Question and Answer Time (for Landlords and Tenants)
Each week, we plan to do a spot on common questions from Landlords and Tenants. We'll gather the advice, so all you have to do is read! We hope you enjoy...

Tenant Questions:

• As a tenant, what am I responsible for?
• I'm having problems with my rental, what is my Landlord responsible for?
• How can we get the Landlord of a rental we're interested in to pick us?

Landlord Questions:

• What should I do if I am taking my tenant to Eviction Court and they finally pay their rent days before the hearing?
• What can we do if our tenant burns down our rental home?
• Our tenant has not paid the rent and then shows up in court with fake receipts. What can we do?

May 10, 2007
Don't forget to sign up for the National Landlords Convention
The convention starts May 17 and lasts three days in Nashville, TN. The entire convention is sponsored by our favorite landlord - MrLandlord - Jeffrey Taylor. We'll keep reminding you until you sign up. You have just over one week to register!

May 10, 2007
Thinking about making your first rental property investment?
We've always turned our attention to Motley Fool for investment advice on stocks, mutual funds, etc. But hey, they don't just stop there, in this article, they've turned their attention away from Warren Buffett and the likes and instead lend some advice to real estate investors.

They bring up some very valid points...

• Avoid neighborhoods where you see too many "For Sale" or "For Rent" signs (there must be a reason why everyone wants out)
• The underground market for stolen windows must be HOTTER than we ever anticipated (yes, renters have actually taken windows from their rental and re-sold them)
• Want to keep your better tenants around for the long-term? Don't nickel-and-dime them or raise the rent every year.
• Did you know there's a 3-10% jerk-rate with tenants. Avoid this crowd by using a higher search criteria.

May 9, 2007
MrLandlord Landlord Convention in Nashville, TN
Dates: May 17-19, 2007
Our pals over at MrLandlord.com are planning the Landlord event of the year. Now's the time to register for MrLandlord.com's annual Landlord Convention. Every year, hundreds of the nations top landlord's, advisors, top real estate authors and suppliers get together for 3 days of fun, learning and networking.

This year marks the 6th year of holding the event. If you are looking for more effective and different ways to BUILD YOUR CASH FLOW AND NET WORTH WITH RENTAL PROPERTIES, this event will be well worth making plans in your schedule to attend.

May 9, 2007
Need to find a rental that allows pets (advice for renters)...
In a survey done by Apartments.com regarding renters and their pets, over 3/4 of the respondents own a pet of some sort. Common knowledge states that it's harder to move into a rental property if your pet weighs over 20 lbs.

Need a quick solution to get a landlord on your side? Why not pay an extra month's deposit and agree to have the carpet professionally cleaned before you move out.

May 5, 2007
Saturday morning news...
Who's in better shape, the buyer or the renter?

Have you ever thought about cutting taxes by renting to yourself? Wal-Mart does it...

Collecting dividends (just like as in stocks) from your home ownership.

Have you upgraded your rental so that you can charge in the top of the market tier?

Does anyone remember these tag lines from the past 5 years? "Get rich quickly..." and "Housing Bubble..."

April 2007

April 26, 2007
Thursday Evening One-liners...
Ever wonder how someone could manage 400 rental properties on their own? Us too.

What's your screening process for weeding out potential tenants?

Landlords, what do you do when tenants don't pay their rent?

Wondering if you should flip OR rent an investment property?

What are other landlords doing to create a positive cashflow with their rental property?

April 25, 2007
Need a plan to get your listing seen by 500+ interested renters in 2 days?
Many landlords visiting this very site have wanted to get their vacancy advertised and in front of as many interested renters as possible. We've developed the tools to get your listing up on the Internet in less than 5 minutes! That's quicker than posting an ad in your local newspaper.

The difference though is that you can actually track the number of visitors who have viewed your listing and you can receive messages from interested tenants on Rental Househunter.

We have a well laid-out Marketing Plan for you, but first you need to post your listing to our site. After doing so, we have one final step to boost your traffic to up to 500+ interested renters within just a few days. List your rental ad now and find out how...

April 25, 2007
Wednesday Evening One-liners...
Landlords, having trouble writing an ad for your rental listing? These guys give some brilliant advice and warn you to be careful of using the "F" word.

In our few years of running Rental Househunter, we've seen the need to help you take better pictures of your property.

Have you ever seen a $125 million home?

Are you an "Accidental Landlord"? 1 out of 5 Landlords are accidental.

Are you a landlord who is souring out?

College town rental properties - Pro's AND Cons

April 24, 2007
The website traffic is picking up...
Thanks to everyone who has helped our web traffic at Rental Househunter grow 49.93% since 4th quarter 2006. We teamed up with Mr.Landlord.com a while back, which helped direct more landlords to the site. Maybe now that Google and Yahoo! regularly index our site each month, we can continue to mount increased traffic.

Keep submitting your rental property listings too. Remember, for the time being, the listings are free - so advertise your rental vacancy on the site. That gives you 4 images, a 300-character description, web stats, anonymous messaging from interested tenants, an image slideshow, and plenty of tips to get tenants in your property.

April 24, 2007
Tuesday Evening One-liners...
Has anyone taken notice to all the technology "perks" offered to tenants these days? Renters aren't just asking for a washer and dryer.

Take an apartment survey (price: free) -- no big deal, but force you to pay for the results? What is the National Multi Housing Council’s (NMHC) thinking with this annual apartment compensation and benefits survey?

Instead of paying for the results to the above survey, why not just get the cliff-notes?

Ever heard of the word, re-tenanting? What signals are you sending to your tenants and are you forming good relationships in the process?

April 23, 2007
Advertising a rental vacancy?
Take note of the different listing services that are available. Some charge a lot, some charge a little. The key here is ACCESSIBILITY. How accessible is your listing to interested renters? Rental Househunter has a plan to get your vacancy filled.


April 23, 2007
Checked out Mr.Landlord.com yet?
Our good friends at Mr.Landlord provide the best insight into the rental industry. After being in the field for 21 years, Mr.Landlord continues to be the #1 Website for Rental Owners. Sign up for the Mr.Landlord.com e-Newsletter and stay up to date with the latest news.

April 21, 2007
Who's who in the Rental Listing Industry?
Tired of doing comparison checks for Rental Listing services? Get caught up with our quick look at listing services, such as Rental Househunter, Rent.com, RentClicks.com, ForRent.com, and RentalHouses.com