Realtor: Shortage of homes for sale strains supply of rentals

Everybody is talking about the seller’s market for real estate sales in Maricopa, but what happens to the local rental market at the same time?

There are two types of rentals currently available in the city.

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The first type, “traditional rentals,” are also known as long-term rentals. These homes are generally available for one-year leases. Sometimes they are available for six months, but that is uncommon nowadays. These homes are generally unfurnished and the tenant pays all utilities.

The second type of rentals are short-term. Generally, these are fully furnished homes, with everything from kitchenware and dinner plates to décor and bedding. These homes are generally rented for weeks or months, or sometimes by season. These are the homes that you may see sometimes on Airbnb or VRBO. These rentals generally include utilities and are more expensive than traditional rentals.

This article will focus on the market for long-term rentals since they are more typically sought after by prospective tenants. Most tenants have some furniture and need a house for longer than a couple of weeks.

The following numbers are based on homes listed for rent on the Arizona Regional MLS. “For rent by owners” and some property management companies not listed on the multi-listing service are not included in the data.

The city of Maricopa has about 21,500 occupied homes. That’s a large enough market to guarantee, you might assume, a nice selection of homes available to rent at any given time. The data tells a different story right now.

As of Aug. 2, 2020, just three homes for rent in Maricopa are listed on the MLS. To add insult to injury, two of those are in Province, the active adult community, so that leaves prospective tenants with minors under 18 years old all looking at the same rental that remains.

One year ago today, there were 17 long term rentals in Maricopa, so that’s an 82% decrease.

As far as monthly rent goes, the current average monthly long-term rental costs 94 cents per square foot, up 20% from just 1 year ago, when the average cost was 78 cents per square foot.

The bottom line: the shortage of homes for sale is adding to the strain of supply in the rental market. Prospective tenants are really going to have to put their best foot forward to get a rental in Maricopa.

Below are some tips to help the tenant in a cutthroat rental market:

• With supply short, renters may look online at Facebook or other websites to find a rental. NEVER wire funds to a landlord without first checking it out. The owner of a home in the city of Maricopa is public information and can be found at https://www.pinalcountyaz.gov/assessor/Pages/ParcelSearch.aspx . The person you are speaking with should be the owner of record.
• The landlord or listing agent will run the credit and maybe a criminal background check of any tenant over 18. Know in advance what the landlord is going to find. Prepare a letter of explanation for anything negative that will arise. Get a letter of recommendation from your past landlord/direct supervisor at work and submit it with the rental application.
• The tenant or agent should reach out to the landlord’s agent to confirm the house is still available and make sure they are only processing one renter’s application at a time. This will help ensure that no one submits an application a day later and rents the home out from under you. Generally, when you apply to rent a house there is a fee involved for each applicant over the age of 18. If there are multiple applications already submitted, knowing that would be important for someone, before using their hard-earned dollars for an application fee.

Any real estate agent can help you find a rental by using the Arizona MLS. Landlords pay all commissions so there is never a cost to have an agent show you rentals. Tenants can also search on their own using www.Realtor.com

Brian Petersheim
HomeSmart Realty
602-206-9644

[email protected]
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