[AugustaREGroup]

First vacancy in 2 years... granted. The unit has been paid through Oct and I have three applications in for it already...

But can tell the market is growing with inventory with not that many more people moving to my area.

[1813611]

I own a number of rentals in Minneapolis and although the demand is strong due to so many people losing their homes I'm starting to see an increase in the number of people paying late as well as the number of evictions. Many of my tenants are struggling with job loss which has a direct affect on my bottom line.

[realvestx]

Now this has become a practice in everywhere. people having two or three homes, for them, renting means second source of income, and that is why this has been observed that to found a house on rent might become difficult in coming days.

[markpropertyinvestment]

Now a days rentals are decreasing alot and income of the owner is reducing tremondously, any way owner should be bare it.

[bogart]

Originally Posted by markpropertyinvestment

Now a days rentals are decreasing alot and income of the owner is reducing tremondously, any way owner should be bare it.

My landlord raised my office rent 6% and my lease has another 6% increase built into it.

[jamesww]

Yes, lots of truth. Here in the Houston area rental rates have increased 13% so far in 2008. The trend does not seem to be ending.

[ISellRiverview]

People who have been foreclosed on still need a place to live, so affordable rentals go fast. However the end of the year is approaching fast and most people do not like to move right around the holidays, so I could foresee it being slow for a few months.

I am also noticing that some agents (and I watch their rental listings!) are offering more and more as the lease fee just to move them fast - I've seen some $1200 a month rentals with a $500 to $600 co-op fee.

[sellinggalveston]

Galveston has a LACK of housing... Even Houston is being hit hard with low rental availiable. Due to IKE we have many people needing rentals... we have opened up our vacation rentals that survived and have rented to owners and contractors who needed it. We have heard of people sleeping in their cars waiting for a place to open up. Rent prices have also gone Wayyyyy up. (even though we kept our prices the same as from before the storm so we did not price gouge)

[ryan01]

Yes, I am in the Clear Lake area of Houston and are seeing the same thing. Rentals were getting tighter before the Hurricane just because Houstons economy is doing so well. Now, rentals are packed sometimes getting rented out in one day. (my listing did) This market is fantastic for investors who have scooped up properties under "easy financing" or the last few years vs. putting money in the stock market. We had a slight over build with apartments but now they are fairing extremely well. Im predicting that the occupancy will back down about 5% in the next 6 months but many new people are wanting to move here now. What a super time to own apartments and rentals.

[Micheal Pannell Realtor]

The Market is really good here, We cant hire enough agents to work all our rental leads. I need to go recuit.