1. Did you know you can hire a real estate agent to help you find a rental?
Real estate agents are licensed to help you search for rentals, make appointments, take you on showings, help you with applications, delivering documents to the landlord, as well as negotiating the lease, and doing a pre-move in walk through with you (on top of it all, this is usually a free service to the tenants because the landlord will pay for it). They can also be property managers (working for the landlord).
Unfortunately, in Lancaster, Pennsylvania (unlike other PA cities, like Philadelphia), its hard for a real estate agent to help you find a rental because many landlords and property management companies will not reimburse them for bringing them tenants (unless you want to pay an agent yourself- their fee is usually half a month’s rent).
That being said, there are still many rentals that we CAN help you with in Lancaster, so when you start your search, find a real estate agent that is willing to do a search for you just to see- its so much easier with someone representing you and doing all the work (for free)!
2. If you don’t have an agent representing you, remember that a good landlord can make all the difference. Seasoned renters have probably learned the hard way, but a bad landlord or property management company can really make renting a nightmare. Try to ask the landlord or property manager questions to get a feel of how renting from them will be (Ex: How do I get something fixed if it breaks? What kinds of things do you expect I will fix if it breaks while I’m living here? How often do you service the furnace?). If possible, ask the current tenants how the landlord is.
3. You can never be careful enough, watch out for scams! Here is a great post about what to watch out for:
http://houseofbrokersrealty.wordpress.com/2014/01/17/how-to-avoid-housing-rental-scams/
4. Don’t underestimate the power of old-school searching. Some landlords have not caught up with technology quite yet (especially in Lancaster County) and you can still find rentals with yard signs or in the newspaper. If you know what area you’d like to live in and just cannot find anything that works, don’t be afraid to simply drive around town or open up the newspaper and keep your eyes peeled!
5. The most important part- where to search! Here are some website we recommend renters visit when trying to find a rental:
The basic sites: These are websites that you may or may not have known you could use to search for rentals online. The apartments you will find here are usually posted by larger property management companies.
- Zillow.com
- Trulia.com
- Hotpads.com– this is our personal favorite
- Apartments.com- this has a great database of short-term rentals as well as apartment building
Or, search by individual property management companies. This can sometimes be easier if you know you like one company in particular. Most of these websites are also where you will find applications for renting or contact info:
- The Akron Group: http://theakrongroup.com/cgi-bin/featured.cgi
- Wolf & Kline: http://www.wolfkline.com/properties
- American Heritage: http://www.ahpm.biz/rental_search.html
- Hostetter Realty: http://hostetterrealty.propertyware.com/rentals.html
- Compass Property Management: http://www.compasspa.biz/wp/?listing_id=
- Hometown Property Management: http://hometownpms.com/overview/
- Hauenstein Agency: http://www.hauensteinagency.com/property-management/available-properties/
Craigslist.com
Craigslist can also be a great tool for finding rentals, however it does call for a lot more caution when scheduling meetings and arranging for payments. This website is great because you can easily search for keywords that aren’t normally search-able on other websites. Like “backyard”, “updated”, or “garage”.
Please read this link (same as above) for more helpful information to avoid being scammed:
http://houseofbrokersrealty.wordpress.com/2014/01/17/how-to-avoid-housing-rental-scams/
- lowincomehousing.us is a great source to find local low income housing
- searching on craigslist can be another easy way to find low-income housing, just search “section 8” or “low-income” in the search bar (but beware of scams!)
Shared Housing
- Check out the local college websites to see if students have anything posted
- Craigslist.com is another great source because you can search by “shared housing” (again, be careful on Craigslist)
- Word of mouth can also be great for these. Post what you are looking for on Facebook and ask everyone to share!
Please share with any renters in your life! And don’t hesitate to call us if you have any questions!
The Warmest Real Estate Blog 