I apologize to anyone who regularly reads my blog and has been missing me!  First my son had the flu and then I was fortunate enough to get it as well.  I've never had this thing!  It's a full seven day illness.  I have never in my life been sick for this many days consecutively.  (I'll be posting a market report "by the numbers" shortly... this post is the anecdotal version because that's about all I can muster!)

I wish I had sunnier news about the rental market.  I do believe that there is good news about this economy that is being under-reported... but for right now, that good isn't in the Seattle rental market. 

It was a S-L-O-W month.  At our firm, I do believe that we had to adjust the price down on each of our available properties- much to the dismay of the homeowners.  In addition, although we had many calls and did many showings (roughly 15 showings per property- on the SFHs, at least), those showings just weren't converting to signed leases.  With the number of showings alone, our clients are getting their money's worth in terms of their lease-up fees! 

Prospective tenants this month were some of the pickiest we've seen.  If the home was "in need" of ANYTHING, the prospect was out the door...  Owner not providing washer/dryer?  LATER!  Paint not perfectly fresh?  BUH-BYE!  Bathroom not updated with all the bells and whistles?  SEE YA!  It was amazing!  And we represent really nice homes!

In addition, the owners with whom I met, converted to listings at a slower pace.  It seems that everybody is holding back, hedging their bets, waiting it out... in short, nobody's making a decisive move on either side.  Of the owners I met with who didn't sign with my firm, not a single one has shown up as a listing for another PM firm.  I also haven't seen them pop up on Craigslist.  ALL of the homeowners I met with were people who would have been on the sales market in a stronger market- which leads me to believe that they are still making up their minds as to selling or renting. 

Going forward, the tenant's market will continue with demand increasing with the usual seasonal timing, but supply will keep pace, keeping rents lower than last year.  There is always demand for quality single family homes- even if you have to drop your price a little here and there, you'll still get it rented. 

There are some interesting numbers that I've pulled from the NWMLS that I'll put in my next post.  I need to not have "flu head" to wrap my mind around the numbers I've culled.... so hang on...

Onward and upward!

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