This is totally out of my area of interest as it relates to RE right now but I had a couple of interesting experiences when looking for a rental property. So I figured I'd throw it out here and see what everyone's take is.
My wife and I just sold our house in Long Island and want to escape NY and are moving down to the Florida panhandle. We eyeballed a few rental properties (1 "for rent" sign and a bunch from Trulia) that we were interested in looking at. I emailed 8 prospective leads this weekend with the intent of getting visits setup for next Saturday when we'll be in town. Also, we are looking in the $2000-$3000 / month price range - we're not calling about $400 rentals. Here are the results so far:
1 actually called me within several minutes of receiving the email.
2 emailed me back today asking that I call their office.
5 nothing...nada...no response.
First, I was kind of surprised by the lack of response. Even if the specific house isn't for rent any longer (and assuming this is PM/Broker/Office representing the listing) I would think that at least a few of them would have gotten back to me with "Unfortunately, 123 Park is no longer available but we might have other properties that you'd be interested in" or something along those lines. But nothing.
Second, the two rentals that did get back to me asking me to call their office seemed a little weird. I left my phone number...wouldn't you just pick up the phone and call? And one of the people basically said they only show houses on M, Tu and Th and that we were pretty much out of luck if we wanted to see the place on Saturday.
So let me ask you - is this the going practice for PM companies or are these just plain bad PM companies?
