If you’re looking for a home to rent, be careful.

The rental market is full of homes owned by investors who never intended to be landlords.

Many of those owners live out-of-state and rushed in to buy homes on speculation during our formerly hot market, then failed to sell and get rich before things cooled down.

Now, they're absentee landlords with little or no property management experience.

Some of them can’t afford to pay 8-10% of each month’s rent for professional property management, so they try to manage their rental properties from a distance.

That can lead to poor maintenance, lax tenant screening, and other problems.

And, many of those owners are still trying to sell their properties while renting them.

If you rent a home that’s for sale, you’ll have to deal with the intrusion of Realtors ^® showing the home and you’ll have to move if the owner finds a buyer.

The worst case can occur when a rental home goes into foreclosure.

In some instances, the renter will not know the property is in foreclosure until they are evicted after the property has been foreclosed.

There are reputable investors and landlords out there.

It's best to rent from them.

Why do some buyers think it’s a good idea to work with more than one buyer agent?

I can understand the logic behind “shopping” buyer agents to find a competent, responsive, experienced agent.

But, playing several agents against each other is a sure way to turn off any experienced agent.

All buyer agents have the same listing inventory to show and every home listed in MLS is available with a mouse click.

Do those buyers think one agent is going to find a property another one won’t find?

I recently caught one of those disloyal buyers in the act while I was helping him get his financing pre-approved.

To my amazement, my lender called and told me they had been asked by another agent to pre-approve my buyer.

When I called to ask the buyer what was going on, he didn’t return my call.

Now he gets to work with the other agent.

My advice?

Pick one competent, responsive buyer agent you like and trust and stick with them.

Confide in them, tell them your wants, needs, likes, and dislikes.

Then, let them do their job for you.

If you really want their best efforts and loyalty, ask them if you can sign a Buyer Representation Agreement.

You’re wasting your time and you won’t get good service from any experienced agent if they know you’re playing the field.

Loyalty matters, especially to those of us who only get paid at closing.

It’s time to open up those foundation vents, folks!

You did close them last Fall, right?

It’s critically-important to allow air flow through your foundation vents to avoid a buildup of moisture, which can lead to serious problems (spelled m-o-l-d) in your crawlspace.