Just a note to those of you who are trying to lease residential properties in Cleveland's suburbs. The number of available rental properties is few to say the least. 

Most sellers who are offering their properties for rent are more interested in SELLING their properties.  Sooooofor the most part negotiating a new price could be difficult.  With the new and extended housing stimulus package, most sellers will be thinking that they may have a better chance of selling and may be even less willing to negotiate a new price for their rental listing.

If you find something you like, chances are someone else is also looking at the same property!  You may find it to your advantage to drive around the areas where you would like to rent.  Most owners who are truly interested in renting will have a sign in their front yards.  Those might be the people you should be calling. 

From my experience, sellers who are listing their homes in the MLS for RENT are also listed FOR SALE.  Their primary objective is to sell.

Always feel a great sense of worth when my first time home buyers find their homes.  Sometimes we pass on a really great home because it's our first time out and the "young" buyer can't believe he's found the house so quickly.  Sometimes we lose a house because we bid too low when the house hasn't been on the market that long.  Other times we miss out on a great home because there is a hesitation in writing an offer and some one else beats us to the bunch.  BUT eventually we wind up with the right home and that makes our job seem like the best job in the world. 

When you're working with a "young" buyer, it's always in the back of your mind that this could be your own son or daughter in another city working with another Realtor. You treat you buyer with kid gloves, the way you would want your own kids to be treated.  Not that you don't treat everyone with the same ethics but "young" buyers, for the most part, don't have a clue about a real estate transaction.  There's a lot of educating that goes on whether it's about what to look for in a home, writing the purchase agreement, or the sequence of events once the offer is accepted.  You can't give a "young" buyer too much information.  Sure there's a lot of information on the Internet but you're the professional and the time and effort you put into helping this buyer learn the ropes will come back a hundred times if you are patient and really make the effort to explain the process.

And don't forget the follow calls.  No one wants to feel like they have been a "sale" in your pocket.  The relationships you build when helping your buyers find homes becomes pretty intense for several weeks or maybe even months.  Don't fall of the face of the earth.  Calling your clients is a heck of a lot easier if you call them during the first month they own the home, their first holiday in the home and follow up with many of their "firsts" (ie their first snow fall, did they get a snow blower in time? or have to shovel their way out?)

First time home buyers are a great niche