I recently saw a report on MSNBC that more than half of potential homebuyers say theyre still not ready to enter the housing market, according to a poll conducted by Realtor.com. Fear of job loss is the number one reason. Other worries include fear of not selling their current home and that home prices will keep falling.

In my day to day business I am seeing that while more restrictive lending is stopping some would be purchasers from moving forward, even those who are highly qualified to purchase a new home are not rushing to snap up the deals and feel that values will continue to drop. They are unwilling to take on a large financial risk in the current economic environment even though foreclosed properties are providing great deals to those who can buy. Furthermore, many concerned customers feel that purchasing foreclosed properties is much more confusing and complicated than a standard sale.

The poll by Realtor.com also found that Americans generally are skeptical about Obamas plan to alleviate the foreclosure crisis by giving the lending industry $50 billion in incentives to lower borrowers monthly payments. Only 28 percent of those surveyed said the plan is working, compared with 41 percent who said it isnt and 27 percent who didnt know.

What is the end result of all this? In my business , I am seeing an increased interest from both potential sellers and buyers in home rental rather than traditional sales and purchase.

Home rental instead of purchasing allows someone relocating to a new area to get to know the market and test out their different options, and also gives those customers needing to upgrade an ability to do that without having to qualify for a complicated mortgage program. Home owners are also finding rental over selling attractive, as it allows the real estate market to rebound and their property values to increase. In my opinion, until Americans become convinced that the market is changing for the better, renting will become the preferred option for many who would otherwise have purchased a home.

Even when you are just moving a short distance, the experience can be hard to handle. But moving your family to a new city or even a new state is one of life’s top stressful situations, and can be very hard on you and your family, especially if the area is completely new to you.

Probably the toughest thing to decide when relocating to a new area is what neighborhood is right for your family. It has become fairly simple to find school data and home values for a neighborhood, but there are other factors that come into play as well, such as local merchants and restaurants and nearby open spaces.

Many people who relocate to a new city or state, such as Jesse Singh who is an executive at HOV Services, are choosing to rent a home before buying. Jesse and his family have had to relocate three times in the past five years, and he hopes their most recent move to Denver will be for keeps.

Jesse was concerned that he would have to move again and not be able to sell his home if that occurred too soon. In addition, although he and his wife have spent a lot of time in Denver hotels, the airport, and the HOV office space, there has been little time in their busy schedule to get to know the Denver metro neighborhoods. My staff at Denver Rent a Home, who are all Colorado natives, were able to alleviate these concerns by finding them a home under a Lease with an option to buy, so that they can take time to get to know the neighborhood without the baggage of a mortgage should they chose to move within the city or need to relocate again.

Another couple and client of Denver Rent a Home recently moved to Denver for a business opportunity and chose to lease vs. buy in part because they couldn’t sell their property in Scottsdale, AZ. They are leasing their property in Scottsdale and leasing a property here, which they felt made a lot more sense for them. As the parents of two young girls they also felt they wanted to get a good feel for living in an area as a family prior to committing to a home purchase.

Rent to own situations are becoming much more popular among my clients, especially those relocating from anther area of the country. It feels great to be able to offer a creative and new choice to my clients, to set them up in a lovely home and get them started right in the community without all the burdens those relocating have had to deal with in the past.

If you are relocating and want to try the lease with option to buy route, find a great local agent who knows the area well and is committed to finding the right rent to own properties. This will save you tons of time and heartache as they will be able to do all the research and find the best home in an area that will work for you the first time.

There is a set of steps a Realtor needs to take in to prepare a property to be marketed effectively so that the home can be sold for its highest value in the most efficient amount of time. Although there are a number of variations on this procedure the following steps are needed to achieve the best result. Make sure to review this list and evaluate the Agents answers when you speak with them.

Step 1: Agent Interviews Interview several Realtors, the most satisfied clients are the ones who have interviewed other Agents; by knowing who else was out there they are confident right from the outset that they have made the right decision.

Step 2: Sign an Exclusive Listing Agreement Once you have decided on your Agent it is standard for them to ask you to sign an exclusive listing with them. This document will reassure the Realtor that the homeowner has made a decision and will be loyal to the selected Agent. Once the Agent has this reassurance they will start to invest their time and money into marketing the property.

The property is listed ‘Exclusively For Sale’ at 5% or 6% commission. The exclusive period usually lasts a week or two while the prep-work is done (pre-inspection, photography, home staging, floor plans, decor etc…). If the home is ‘double-ended’ and the Agent is not in competition, the Agent will normally be receptive to discussing a reduction in the commission. Double ended means that the listing Agent sells it to a client during this exclusive period. There is a specific set of rules that will allow the Agent to negotiate in good faith on behalf of both parties. I believe that this is actually not fair to the Seller since you sign a listing with them vowing to work in their best interest. It is appropriate to ask the listing Agent’s Broker to negotiate on behalf of the purchaser. This way both parties still receive fair representation.

Step 3: The House is Staged There are many different things that have to happen before a property can be properly marketed. Most of these items have to do with getting the property shined up and ready to be photographed and subsequently shown. This process is typically referred to as ‘Staging’ a home.

Staging can mean anything from a new coat of paint and some fresh flowers to entirely re-decorating and furnishing a home. There is great value in staging because it helps market a home to a broader audience then the current owner’s individual taste. This can be a very touchy subject because most people take great pride in their home, as they should, and think that it already looks its best. Unfortunately a lot of Buyers might not have the same appreciation for lime coloured paint or they may have trouble seeing how big the room is past all the boxes of receipts and tax papers from 1976.

It is usually the clutter and minor deficiencies that the home owner doesn’t notice anymore. They tell themselves they will get around to fixing it eventually and just never do. This is where the Agent has to be cautious not to overstep their boundaries, but make it clear that the goal is to sell the home for the most amount of money and it is therefore necessary to appeal to the widest audience possible. Quite often an agent will recommend a ‘Fluffer’ or ‘Stager’ to do this because that way they don’t have to be the bad guy. The goal of staging is to make the house desirable to everyone who would be looking in their market.

The Agent should shoulder the costs of all the marketing, but the homeowner is expected to pick up the costs of staging and any pre-inspections. These are suggestions that will net them more money at the end of the day and stay with the house after sale.

At this point the house is ready to be professional photographed and subsequently marketed. Don’t underestimate the value of having your home professionally photographed. Pictures form the basis of any marketing campaign. To sell your house for the most amount of money in the least amount of time you need you home looking its absolute best.

1. Location, Location, Location! Look for a location in Toronto that has the potential for growth, this is the best advice when investing in real estate. If the house you choose in Toronto is not exactly as you’d like it to be, you can always renovate and change things. You cannot renovate an entire neighborhood.

2. The best Toronto investment properties are sometimes the ones that require the most work. Sometimes you can find a great fixer-upper in a popular area. When investing time and money into remodeling, not only will you have a great place to live, but you have a home that has been designed to your liking and will get a much better return on your investment.

3. Remember you can always expand Typically it is a good idea for clients to think into the future and see the broader picture. Will the property be suitable within the next few years? If not, it is a good idea to see if the house can be expanded to accommodate a larger living space. This could be in the form of a finished basement or adding an addition. If major renovations are required, check into whether or not there are any building restrictions for the neighborhood. It is a good idea to find it beforehand than when you are actually facing the prospect of buying Toronto building permits.

4. Check into the schools in the area. Even if you do not currently have children, if you are thinking about it in the future, it is a good idea to check into the local schools. Having a good school in the area is something a potential homebuyer should never overlook. Oftentimes, a family will move into a particular neighborhood to be within the district of a favorable school.

5. Perform a personal credit check now. Before applying for a mortgage in Toronto, it is a good idea to perform a personal credit check. If your credit report contains any errors, you can have it rectified before any financial institution makes the discovery.

6. Clean up your credit. Making any credit report repairs can sometimes be as easy as making timely payments. Even if you have had bad credit in the past, you can turn it around and the bank or financial institute can be surprisingly forgiving. This is why it is imperative to check on a credit report prior to shopping the Toronto real estate market.

7. Never underestimate the value of an energy efficient home. An energy efficient house can save you thousands of dollars over the course of time. More and more people are seeking energy efficient homes, it is a common request more real estate agents are hearing every day.

8. How far is the daily commute to work? If you are giving serious thought to a particular home, a good idea is to make a test run to see how the traffic flows in both directions during the average daily commute.

9. How low are the rates? Lock in a secure mortgage rate for as long as possible, if the rates are low and there is no chance of rates dipping any lower it can equal to saving a substantial amount of money over time.

10. Avoid Toronto houses that tilt. Gaze at the house you are interested in from across the street, if the house tilts you definitely need to move on to the next property. Just because the floors of a home are uneven does not mean the house necessarily tilts, to verify if this is the case you will need to have an inspection done. A tilt is indicative of foundational issues; it is a problem with the potential to drain finances when it comes time for making repairs down the road.

11. Remember resale value. When you are considering purchasing a Toronto property, keep the potential for resale in mind. Do not let it determine your every thought, however, at some point you may want to sell the home so it is a good idea to keep the thought in the back of your mind.

Most realty agents have had a lowball offer on a listing or represented a buyer that has submitted a lowball offer. A majority of real estate agents have dealt with both types of lowball offers. In general, lowball offers written up for buyers by a good agent get accepted, and lowball offers received by a seller get rejected.

Listed below are 5 common mistakes made by buyers and agents when submitting a lowball.

Making a Lowball Offer to the Seller Instead of Calling the Listing Agent

A listing Realtor provides a great wealth of information that can help a buyer write an offer that the seller is more apt to accept. The agent should call the listing agent first, to ensure the home has not sold and to find out how many offers have been made on the property.

There can be seven offers pending a short sale approval on a home and six of the offers can be over the listed price. The buyer’s agent has sent a lowball offer over without calling first. Of course the offer will not even be taken into consideration.

Submitting a Lowball Offer with an Inadequate Deposit

Typical deposits vary from $1,000 to 3% of the property price. When a buyer has only a small deposit, it can make the buyer appear like they do not make enough money to be able to afford the property or that they are not serious about actually buying the home.

Submitting a Lowball Offer with a Hardship Letter

Most sellers are not at all interested in a plea for acceptance. A sellers main motivation is to make a profit on the property for sale. Banks are even less interested, especially when the house is in foreclosure or is listed for a quick sale.

When a buyer informs the seller that they do not qualify for the list price of the property, the seller realizes that the home is out of the buyer’s price range. By doing this it will make the buyer appear uninformed and ill equipped to purchase the house.

Submitting a Lowball Offer with Alerted Comparable Sales

A listing agent will show comparable sales that support the price of the property before placing it on the market. When an agent delivers a list of fake comparable sales from another area, this shows that the agent is incompetent.

By doing this, it shows that the buyer’s agent thinks that the listing agent is not familiar with the neighborhood and the surrounding area. A good buyer’s agent should try to get the listing agent’s cooperation.

Submitting a Lowball Offer with a Concessions Request

When a buyer submits a lowball offer, some buyer’s agents will also submit a concessions request. A concessions request can include a closing credit cost of 3% to 6% of the total price.

Some seller’s can be willing to provide a cash credit to buyers, unless they are presented with a lowball offer. When a buyer practices these types of offers, it only insults the seller.

These are the five most common mistakes that people make when presenting a lowball offer.

Real estate agents charge fees; money that could otherwise be going into your pocket. At least that’s the misconception amongst many home sellers. But is that the reality of the situation? Do real estate agents really take up a large portion of your house sale price? Does a professional real estate agent really cost you that much?

The first thing to acknowledge is that yes, a real estate agent is going to charge you a commission. However, he’s not getting something for nothing. In fact, when you realize what the real estate professional does, you’ll understand that although he does charge you a fee, you are not actually out of pocket. So what does a real estate agent do, and how do they earn their money?

The first thing that a real estate agent brings to the table is an up-to-date working knowledge about houses in your area, what price they are currently selling for, and who’s buying them. This is invaluable because they know exactly the kind of target buyer who will be interested in taking a look at your home with a serious interest in buying it. This kind of buyer is often already qualified so that if they like what they see, you’re more likely to see the sale through to closure than if the buyer hasn’t even started trying to raise finance to buy a home.

An experienced real estate professional will be able to advise you on what needs to be done to your home in order to sell it at the best selling price for your type of home in your area. It could be that his list is actually shorter than yours based on how much return you will get for investing time and money in repairs and updating such things as drapes. You may know your home better than he does, but he knows what sells, and his knowledge on how to place furniture in order to maximize natural light etc could make the difference between selling and not.

Selling a house isn’t like going to the store, picking an item off the shelf and buying it. There a lot of legalities and paperwork to be covered before a closing a house sale. A real estate agent works with this paperwork on a daily basis. They know how to simplify things and get the official process taken care of as quickly as possible. They will negotiate on your behalf with the buyers, the financial people and the legal people so that all the ends are tied up neatly and you won’t have a legal case on your hands in the future because of a form that didn’t get filed, or a negotiation clause that was forgotten in the excitement.

On the surface, it may seem that a real estate agent is there to take your money, but in actual fact, his experience and knowledge will help you speed up the process, and because of his negotiating skill, could put more money into your pocket than you pay into his.

In February 2009, U.S. President Obama described the housing market as “a crisis unlike any we’ve ever known” and in turn proposed to put out $275 billion to help the 9 million homeowners who are struggling. Obama’s solution is to offer subsidies and incentives to mortgage companies, that way they will be taken care of and not be as hard on homeowners. There have been criticism and support for this idea that Obama has proposed.

Congress is known for being unable to make a decision quickly. This is most likely an issue that will be solved down the road. But for now, there are still millions of homeowners trying to keep a roof over their heads. Many have been forced to foreclose or sell their homes for less than market value. Renting has become the most logical answer to homeowners.

A way to make the time pass as a homeowner is to simply rent out your home. This will help pay your mortgage and maybe even some extra income. KeyRenter are experts in Utah property management and can help homeowners with the decision to rent while the housing market improves. Homes for rent in Utah are plentiful with many of them listed on KeyRenter’s website.

Utah property management are beneficial with the renting process. To find great homes for rent in Utah, these management companies have listings of several rental homes in Utah that fit the needs of several potential tenants. Renting can keep the value of your house while the housing market gets out of the slumps. KeyRenter professionals represent homeowners as their clients and list their homes on their website as well as many others and can help looking renters to find the rental home of their choice.

In today’s economy, potential tenants are available in many places who are looking for a place to rent. Regardless of the size or type of your home, there are always individuals, couples, students, and families looking for places to live. Some are relocating families who constantly move and must find a rental home in Utah immediately. Students are always looking for places with short contracts to live in during the college semester. KeyRenter is a place where any student, family, or couple can go on to search of rental listings in Utah.

Those who are searching the housing market will realize that renting a home is the better choice for now. Renting is more stable since you don’t own it, therefore, you’re not reliable for it in the long-run. You and the landlord are also bound to it by contract so nothing can go wrong. Especially if a Utah property management company is involved because they enforce rent payments and that the landlord is meet the house’s needs.

People have always safely assumed that if they had the money it made sense to buy a home rather than rent. But the last two years have proved that assumption wrong and people are now faced with more difficult decisions than ever in the real estate market.

While the super-low interest rates and plummeting housing prices seem to make a great case for buying a home, more and more consumers are looking to rent or rent-to-buy opportunities. But evaluating such a scenario can be tricky.

So, as a matter of practice, when is it right to buy, rent, or rent to own? I have found 5 principal components to the decision:

1. Credit Score. Unless your credit score is near perfect, getting a mortgage loan in the current environment will be very difficult. You may want to rent-to-own in that circumstance, which will allow you to build your credit history over time and still build equity. On the other hand, if you have a great credit score, you may be able to get a loan at the lowest interest rates our country has seen in fifty years.

2. Cash Flow Needs. It is especially important in the present economic environment to make sure you maintain enough cash to satisfy your current cash needs, and many folks are finding it difficult to come up with the cash needed for a down payment to purchase a home. Monthly rents tend to run lower than a loan payment, and that allows many individuals to meet other monthly obligations without hurting their credit scores.

3. Employment Concerns. The other day, I read a quote by Forbes.com columnist Matt Woolsey, where he stated “Given the state of the job market right now, the anchor of full ownership is a heavy one.” I have witnessed this heavy anchor with many of my customers, who are concerned over losing their jobs. If you share this unease, the rent or rent-to-own strategy may be for you, as it will preserve your credit and avoid a foreclosure scenario if you are unable to make payments.

4. The Flee Factor. If you have moved to a new city or state recently, or plan to move to a new location, it isnt always a good idea to purchase a home immediately. Renting gives the gift of time to evaluate the surrounding areas in your new city or state without the danger of financial loss by needing to sell soon after you purchased in a declining market.

5. Market Unpredictability. Even in markets like Denver, which was recently named the No. 1 city on the verge of recovery from the real estate slump by Barbara Corcoran on NBCs Today show, data is mixed on when the housing market will actually recover. As such, renting is appealing as a wait-and-see approach until the forecast clears.

There are definitely arguments for each choice and the essential component is that you learn all the options to make the best decision for you. An experienced real estate professional can help you ask the questions and discover the answers for you. There are some new and unique options that folks may have not investigated in the past that might be just right in your situation.