Marin rentals are in high demand - at least that's what our promotional fliers printed earlier this year say! But a sagging economy and a dragging housing market have combined within the last four months or so to create--for the first time since the dotcom bust--a relatively flat rental market in Marin. As a broad generalization there are more homes available for lease, less tenants looking and as a result rental prices are down.
If you're a long term income property owner, don't panic just yet. We're still closing lots of deals in our Marin office, and depending on how your price the property and the condition of the home, some rental values are still going up. For example, we just leased a cute 4bd/2ba Sycamore Park home in Mill Valley at asking price of $4,500 and with three full price offers. We also just represented the tenants on two high end leases of $14,500 and $15,000 in Sausalito and Ross respectively. (The home in Ross also had two full price offers at $15k.) But as we all know, real estate is a local thing. And even within a comparably small locale like Marin County, values can vary widely. Consider northern central Marin and on. If you have a luxury home in Novato, San Rafael, or even San Anselmo chances are you're going to have to take a pretty big hit if it's vacant now. (These are the areas where we saw the most building during the real estate boom and now where there is the most excess supply of homes that can't sell converting to rentals. Very high inventories of nice homes--tenants if you're looking these are the best deals right now!!) It can be challenging to move a $5,000 property in Novato even in a booming rental market--but that being said I just saw a gorgeous resort-like property in Novato go pending after just a week or so on the market for $5,000. I also just leased an estate-like property in San Rafael for $6,950 (had a pool and tennis court and was easily 4,000+ sq ft).
So like I said, values can vary widely.
The bottom line is, priced correctly and aggressively properties are leasing. The homeowners who are sticking to the prices of the last few years are likely going to wait a while. If you're a tenant thinking of moving, now's a great time. Just don't get too caught up in low-ball offers on a house you love--you never know when there are second offers coming in.
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