I can't sell my house, can you rent it for me?

Many home owners are finding that in today's market they either can't find a buyer AT ALL for their house, or that they will have to bring their price WAY down to attract a buyer. If the Owners are living in the house currently they may have to just stay put until the market changes.

In our area, however, (Payson, AZ, a small town North of Phoenix) there are a large number of vacation/second homes or otherwise unoccupied homes. Some were bought as investments and not sold before the market changed, some belong to people who HAD to move for various reasons. These people are coming to us to rent out their house.

The only honest answer to "can you rent my house for me?" is MAYBE.
To give a better answer I need to ask questions of the Owners:

-Where is your house located? (location works in rentals, as well as sales)
-Is is in good shape? (a rental MUST be in safe condition for Tenants, and if it needs cosmetic help- paint for instance- it will be harder to fill when in competition with "prettier" homes
-Are you current with your payments? (it might take awhile to find you a qualified Tenant, especially if you want high-end rent or don't want any pets, or put any other restrictions which make your house less "rentable". If you are having a hard time making the payments renting may NOT save you.)
-Do you understand that, as  professional Property Managers, we MUST amd WILL follow the "letter of the law" regarding rentals? (this means we will NOT turn down all families with children because you don't want the wear and tear, we WON'T give you their security deposit and find you some unfair reason to keep it when they leave, we WILL insist that you repair/replace supplied appliances, water heater, plumbing, heating and cooling, and other essentials while the house is rented, we WILL insist that you give the Tenant proper notice if you want to inspect the house, etc.)
-Is the house for sale? (selling AND renting is a bad way to do both. CHOOSE ONE. You're not likely to get the price you want now, anyway. If it leases, take it off the sales market. Because we do sales AND rentals, we can put a house "either or", whichever comes first.)

These are only a few things we consider. For more things to think about here is a knol I wrote on Google, "Should I rent my house..."  (Have you discovered Google knols? If not, spend some time and explore.)

We recommend talking to an experienced rental professional in your area if you are considering renting your house. renting to the wrong tenant can be a nightmare, and can be VERY expensive..

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