Either rent or sell.

This may seem a bit obsessive, but after putting in offers on homes for rent, and being turned down because, “They really want to sell,” I am about to burst.

Dear Real Estate Colleague.

I know that your client, who really wants to sell their home, has instructed you to put it up for rent as well as for sale.  I know that nine times out of ten, they only want to sell, but you have to put it on the MLS for rent.  Now I come along with folks that are here for a two to three year corporate rotation, and they want to rent the home.  After days, if not weeks of waiting for a response, I am thanked for my interest, but they really want to sell.

Do me a favor, let me know from the beginning if there is little to no chance of that house being rented.  It takes so much time to make appointments, go see the home, prepare the paperwork, get my clients’ hopes up, to have them shot down. Just today I got turned down for two different homes, one in Greenwich, one in New Canaan, because they really want to sell.  What was frustrating is that the owners took some time to make that decision, so we were kind of blowing in the wind for a bit.

I understand the premise, I do.  Even if we have a back-up plan, more often than not, I have to take those folks back out to revisit homes we have seen or investigate new ones.  Yes, this is the nature of our business.  I should not be complaining, this is what I signed up for.  But I am complaining anyway, because I have to bear the brunt of my clients complaining for 40% of a months rent (what happened to 50%??).

Throw me a bone, let me know at the outset that the plan is to sell, and may not be worth our time and effort to visit the home for rent. Of course, you may not know this and I get   that.  If you know in your heart of hearts that it will never be rented, just let me know.

Thank you.

Have you had a similar experience?  Let me know.