Newest Boom in Cincinnati Real Estate – Invest in the Rental Market

Posted on 16. Nov, 2010 by GuestPoster in Real Estate

Sales of homes are not occurring much these days, but the rental market is booming, whether it’s half-million-dollar mini-mansions, newly constructed riverfront condos or even single-family homes in the suburbs such as Mason OH homes for sale.

A majority of the homeowners have now resorted to the rental option after many unsuccessful attempts to sell their homes and their new tenants are actually would-be home buyers who remain sidelined by firm lending criteria, foreclosures, job losses and so on.

Bruce Hager’s $600,000 four-bedroom home in Mount Adams, for example, was for sale for over a year and even though he had reduced the rates three times, he was getting no buyers.  In August, he settled for the rental option and in just two weeks he got tenants willing to pay rent of $2,900 a month.

Joe Price, chief operating officer of Fort Mitchell-based Huff Realty, said that his firm is placing a large number of resources in reaching out to renters, a section which was unexploited by agents both locally and nationally.

Huff is an affiliate of Home Services of America which is amongst the biggest settlement services providers in the country.  He has introduced a new web site called huffrealtyrentals.com where potential renters can look for up to 4,000 rental property listings and property owners can link up with an agent who will list and show their homes.

New renters comprise either ex- homeowners who have lost their jobs or houses through foreclosure or potential buyers who can’t get a mortgage with the current constricted loan procedures or the bunch of people for whom purchasing a home may not be perceived as a good investment, considering the indeterminate forecasts for the Cincinnati area real estate.

In Florence last month, Bekah Karschner and her family signed a two-year lease agreement for a four-bedroom home which was listed for sale for more than a year.  Karschner reached out to Johnny Hodge, an agent with Florence based ReMax Affiliates to help out with their search.  “I never thought there would be a Realtor to help me find a home to lease instead of buy.  It was definitely a worthwhile experience,” she said.

This year Hodge has helped 10 homeowners to lease out their property which is more than he’s seen in the past decade!  He says that although the new business is well appreciated and probably a stable add-on to his portfolio, it’s not as profitable as making a sale.  Commissions on home sales normally will be 3 percent of the sale price, while commissions off rental listings are only equal to one month’s rent for the listed property, he said.

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Tags: cincinnati area real estate, mason oh homes for sale, rental homes, renting or buying a home