Seattle

[OliverHutton]

Hi I've been looking to rent for a while, and I was cruising around trying to get a feel for the market, and I came across MLS 28066108. I noticed in the financing terms category it said Monthly Rent: $1,250.00. Does that mean I can offer to rent the building from the seller? If so, I'd be seriously interested!

Thanks,
Oliver

[OliverHutton]

Anybody? Please? Redfin staff maybe?

[Ken]

I am not really sure about Redfin but I have noticed a lot of properties that have been for sale coming on Craigslist for rent lately.

I asked someone about this awhile back and they said that the way it works is that you agree to a purchase price, move in and rent for a year or whatever, and a portion of your rent goes to the sales price. The person that I asked advised against doing this right now because you are locking in the current sales price. With the market turning and prices dropping they advised just renting and not losing money on the purchase at this time. They said that these options to buy are usually done when prices are going up so that the buyer has the option at the lower price in the future and is paying rent in the meantime.

We are looking into just renting something that we would be interested in buying down the road but have decided against a lease to own option at this time. The risk to the buyer is if prices go up dramatically then you might not be able to afford the place you are renting. I feel strongly though that prices will continue to follow the rest of the country and fall over the next couple of years.

[EastsideRE]

Try this site for rental info in the areas you are interested in.   

http://www.zilpy.com/

Craigslist is a good suggestion.  Just make sure you are dealing with someone that actually owns or manages the property.  There have been some scams lately with people taking deposits from multiple people on properties they don't own and then taking off.  Ask for ID and then verify the ownership on the King County database.

http://www.kingcounty.gov/

[DonaldD]

Oliver,

Thank you for considering Redfin. At this time, we do not support rentals. I suggest that you call the listing agent or procure an agent from a traditional brokerage familiar with rentals to represent you.

Best wishes,

[OliverHutton]

Oh ok, I get it. That helps so much. Thank you! Makes total sense too.

[KarenJones]

Oliver, just to add on to the good advice that Donald already gave, I checked on the MLS number that you referenced, and see that the rent quoted on that listing is the amount that the current renter is paying. This is often useful for investors purchasing property to use as rentals.

[Liana]

Actually, #redfin... MLS does provide some rental information.  So this data should be easy for you to grab.  And considering the housing market these days and the desire people have to rent right now... this might be an attractive feature for you.

You may have even considered scraping Craig's List data.... a challenge, I admit but it would be worlds of awesome.

[Matt]

I'm sorry, but we have no plans to do rentals.