First Time Using Rental Agents in Boston as a Landlord

[Beau Blinder]

Hey guys,

I've been wrapping up the work my place needed and have been testing the waters with getting it rented. Thus far, I've been posting on craigslist, but quickly found that my time was being wasted by a lot of tire-kickers and people who weren't qualified. I tried a bunch of variations of my listing, some being more explicit about my criteria, but generally wasn't successful in finding people who met my pretty reasonable renting standards.

I've since enlisted a few rental agents in the search. I'm working with three right now and I wondered if there is any trick to this process? I have given them all the same information and if I change information (such as going half security), I plan on notifying all of them of the change so that the apartment is always consistently listed.

Are there any tips or tricks to helping get your place rented more quickly in the off-season? Do most people list with one agent and then let them syndicate it on MLS or am I better off spreading out and working with multiple agents directly? Is picking up the agent's fee really going to make a huge difference to finding solid tenants?

Really looking forward to your feedback,

Beau