GRAND RAPIDS AREA RENTAL HOUSES
The demand for rental housing in the Grand Rapids area has skyrocketed in the past few years. That means it’s harder to find a rental home these days and scams are becoming increasingly popular.
Some of our readers have asked us to help them start their rental home search, so we reached out to a local company that does just that. Sarah Davies, of Lighthouse properties graciously gave us the scoop:
FIND A RENTAL BY USING A PROPERTY MANAGEMENT COMPANY
Lighthouse Property Management (www.lighthousepm.com) is one of the largest management companies in West Michigan. In business since 2003, they are a locally owned residential management company that handles 700 rental homes in Kent and Ottawa County.
RESOURCES TO HELP YOU FIND A RENTAL
There are many resources out there to locate properties for rent.
Management companies like Lighthouse have their own website which will filter into many other rental sites such as Zillow.com, Trulia.com, Craigslist.com, Hotpads.com, etc. Some private owners will post on one specific site such grhousing.com or rentals.
Unfortunately, there is not one central place to see every option available but craigslist seems to be the most common as it is well known, and also free for the one posting the property. This is also the most common place for scammers to try to take your money.
THINGS TO LOOK OUT FOR WHEN INQUIRING ABOUT A PROPERTY
- If you get a response that says the owner is out of the country and gives instructions where to send money before you even view the home, this is a scam and all you can do is report it to craigslist for the ad to be removed.
- If you see the home listed for multiple prices and one is at a price too good to be true, it probably is. Scammers copy and paste pictures/information and change the price so you respond to their ad over the actual one. Report to craigslist.
- If you get a response asking for personal/financial information in a list form right after you inquire about the property, it is usually a scam. Lighthouse has an application that can be submitted electronically but is is a link through our business website.
- Always tour a home if possible. Pictures are not always accurate as they could be what the property looked like 10 years ago.
WHAT ABOUT THE SAFETY OF THE AREA?
We often get questions about whether an area is “safe” which is not something we can answer due to fair housing laws, and it is a matter individual perception as everyone’s definition of safe could be different.
It is up to a tenant to determine if they are comfortable with a location and we always recommend to do you due diligence and drive by an area, talk to the local police department, or do your own research. You can input an address online and see any type of crime in whatever radius you chose at:http://www.crimemapping.com
Have you found a rental home in West Michigan? How did you go about it? Any tips or tricks for those looking right now?
I have a rental business around grand rapids, kentwood and wyoming, Price varies on place and bedroom and other things. All my properties are non smoking properties, all decent safe and reliable places, No section 8, only working people, no games, no party, no bunch of problems, clean and respectful, cats only as pets, no dogs, I do run criminal background and credit check once we agree to rent/lease.
Thanks
Mit
I have a rental business around grand rapids, kentwood and wyoming, Price varies on place and bedroom and other things. All my properties are non smoking properties, all decent safe and reliable places, No section 8, only working people, clean and respectful, cats only as pets, no dogs, I do run criminal background and credit check once we agree to rent/lease.
Thanks
Mit
need help looking for a 2-3 bedroom at $400.00 till $600 need some help
I certainly wish I had words of wisdom, but I don’t. My husband and I are struggling to find something. We moved to the area 9 months ago and rented a place site-unseen because we moved across the country. While the house is lovely, it has single pane windows and no insulation. We were choked by utility bills this winter. We have been looking for over two months and have found nothing. We have a hard time even getting in to a house to look at it. My husband once called on a house 8 minutes after it was posted, he was 3rd in line for looking at the house. The house was rented in hours! We have been lucky enough to look at a few houses, however we found them to either be in terrible condition or were not first in line with our application. We have a pretty reasonable budget of $1500 and can’t find anything! We are so ready to leave Grand Rapids and move back to our house across the country.
My only other recommendation would be to use word-of-mouth as much as possible. It seems like a lot of homes get rented out before they are even posted on a site or listed through a property management company. After two months of stalking websites we have tried word of mouth and have a few leads, but we are still hitting dead-ends. Unfortunately, we know very few people because we are new to town.
Good luck to my fellow renters.
Sorry to hear about this Janie! I will pass this along to our Facebook team- maybe posting this will generate some new leads for you. Best wishes!!
Thank you Melody. It has been an extremely frustrating process, but we appreciate any leads we are directed towards.