Leasing Agent Ponderance

[Brandon Wade Davis]

Being a traveling executive (relocated many times in the US) I have discovered that there can be great struggle when trying to find homes to rent. Options apart from the commercially listed rental homes/appartments on the MLS often leave me disappointed and with limited inventory to review. A creative approach I have adopted is by contacting a real-estate agent who obviously represents the "sellers' interest and ask them to propose leasing options on sale properties that have been on the market over a year. Usually it does not take me long to find a motivated owner who is willing to consider renting as a way to offset his carrying costs on a home that's not selling.

After doing some research I can understand why "Leasing Agents" can be in short or no supply. The income generated from such representations is usually quite small (1/2-1'st months rent) and you'd need to be moving huge volumes to make those revenues stack up to reasonable living wages. That said, I think the approach of becoming a leasing agent would be perfect for a guy like me who has a stable career and is simply looking to enter real estate investing by drumming up "seed money" for future realestate investments in addition to my own disposable income decisions.

What challenges to Leasing Agents typically run into when dealing with real-estate companies who are primarily slanted towards selling their properties?

Is this idea of mine a "dead end"?