Rentals are a good way to pick up some quick cash and learn the territory. Rental prospects often end up purchasing property and might well do so with you if they feel you have served them well. Property owners who list their rentals will often end up listing them for sale!
But for all the advantages of working rentals there are some big and important drawbacks. Unlike a property sale, where there is a closing agent (attorney or title company) who have legal responsibility that the transaction is handled correctly closes in accord with the contract terms, with rentals there’s no one to share the risk of a deal gone wrong. Rental transactions produce very little dollar volume per transaction but have high levels of professional risk and responsibility. Oddly most Realtors fail to recognize that their responsibilities are correspondingly greater in lease transactions and treat them casually. This is a recipe for disaster.
Lastly, rental transactions are complicated because they are almost always performed under time deadlines and pressure from various sources: slow condo approvals, antsy landlords and tenants who think they can re-write the deal as it matures. The articles in this section should help to guide you through the phases of the rental transaction: qualifying the prospects, drawing the documents, tracking the status and lastly, disbursing the funds and commissions.