Atlanta Rental Market Update – State of the Union
The Atlanta Real Estate market is still very challenging. Here are some facts for you to ponder.
News of Georgia’s unemployment being over 10% is a very alarming. I have provided a link for you to view the historical data for your reference. This means that 1 on every 10 households has someone who is unemployed. This is tremendous and will have a significant impact on the rental market as well as the foreclosure market.
Not surprisingly, over the past 2 months the number of foreclosures have also spiked up. If people are being laid off, they aren’t able to afford their homes. Currently, there are over 4,000 advertised foreclosures for August and that is only for 3 of the metro area counties. Now some of those will be able to be negotiated with the lender, but others will certainly go back to the bank. When that happens, it will put a strain on the eviction process which delays us in getting our evictions for non-paying tenants.
Clark Howard, popular local radio personality whose theme is “Save more, spend less and avoid rip-offs” dedicated a whole hour of his radio show this week to asking your landlord for rental concessions and lowering your rental amount due to the increase in vacancies. Click to read more about this show.
While we at Solid Source Property Management have seen an increase in the properties that are being rented, there are still a lot of vacancies over the metro area. We have been working hard to shorten the vacancy times and have gotten creative with our clients to do what we can to improve results.
In July, we have more than doubled the number of inquires over what was reported in June. Now we know some of that is seasonal, but part of it is also our aggressive advertising and specials.
We also found that those owners who did as we advised and either added staging items in the home or paid a higher referral fees did get their properties rented faster than those who didn’t. Only 10% of the owners who had a vacancy last month actually acted on these services, but each one that did is now occupied. So, my point is our recommendations are actually working.
I know that I have shared a lot of news with you today. The market is going to take a while to get better. Therefore, we will have to figure out how to best function with the situation as it is. While I am hopeful that it will get better sooner, we are bracing for the long term. Please know that if we can help you in any way – we are happy to do so. Contact us.
August 7th, 2009 at 9:51 am
This brings me to an idea:…
August 9th, 2009 at 5:31 pm
Great idea, but will this work over the long run?