To rent with RE agent or without

[Irina S.]

I had a discussion with a friend of mine yesterday about strategies to rent her new condo apartment.

She's been told to put listing on kijiji and don't hire any Real Estate agent for helping her because even if she pays him/her there will be no guarantee of finding a good tenant.

My thoughts are: to list it with Real Estate agent because promised commission (50% of monthly rent ) will motivate agents to bring clients; agent will show the property during business hours when she's at work; help with screening process and paperwork.

Could you please advise which's a right solution? 

Thank you!

[Bill S.]

@Irina S. a couple of things. To "mention" someone. Type the @ key and then the first three letters of their name and those names will appear at the bottom of the reply box. Select the one that you want to "mention" and their name will appear in your reply highlighted in blue. 

Just to clarify there are three services an agent can perform that have been discussed. 1) put the property in the MLS for exposure to potential tenants. 2) Property management for the one time act of locating and placing a tenant in the property. 3) Property management for the ongoing monthly management of the property.

Sometimes 1 and 2 are not separable but in some areas they are.

With regards to listing the property in the MLS, here there are virtually no rentals in the MLS so no one hires an agent just to get the property in the MLS. I know other areas that nearly all tenants come from the MLS listing so if you don't hire an agent to put the property in the MLS then your renter pool is much smaller. Smaller tenant pool means lower rents and/or higher vacancy rates. In locations where the MLS rules, the cost of paying to have the property in the MLS is just part of the cost of business. You either pay one way or another.

If you go the DIY route, you need to make sure you have the means to advertise to a large tenant pool. If Kiji is used by more than 50% of tenants (to determine this see how many properties are listed there vs the MLS) to find property then it is probably is a viable option. If not, then you probably need to pay an agent to list it there. Know this, even though a tenant comes from another agent, you or your property manager should absolutely do the background checks, credit screening and rental history checking. Doing the credit screening in the US requires advance preparation because you have to be "approved" to run credit check independently. There are ways around this but some are inferior and some give away control. You need to understand this process and have a plan. Absolutely do not cut the corners here. Figure out your screening process. You should know your tenants life inside out before you rent to them. Read Brandon's guide for screening tenants.