Tight Rental Market in Dearborn County

As a local property manager, I follow the rental market in Dearborn County very closely. So far this year, the demand for rentals has been extremely high and the supply of available units is almost non-existent. This is true for apartments but especially true for single family homes. For the first time in a decade, I had a tenant apply and lease an apartment without even seeing it in person. With such a low inventory of available apartments, they wanted to lock it in before the existing tenant had moved out. Luckily, they were very happy with the apartment when they moved in.

How can someone wanting to rent an apartment or house get ahead of the competition? Here are 4-ways:

1) `Sign up with Craiglist. Create a Craiglist account an have it automatically notify you when a property comes available based on your search criteria.

2) Follow Facebook Buy/Sell group in your area. There are several for the Dearborn County area but my favorite is the Dearborn County EVERYTHING Buy Sell & Trade group.

3) Fill out an Application in Advance: Property Managers hate vacancies so having a tenant pre-approved and ready to go when an opening occurs is a big plus. When you find a rental property that you like, find out who the Property Manager is and ask if you can be pre-qualified. A good way to find the contact information for the property manager is to ask a current tenant. Existing tenants may also be a good source for asking questions about the condition of the property and how well it is managed.

4) And of course, you can click on the Facebook link at the top of this page a follow me to see when I post an opening:-)

With all these, you need to move quickly. In this market, you really can't take weeks or even days to decide if you want an available unit. Do your research in advance and be ready to jump when you find something you like.