This is the Bellevue Rental Report for January 28, 2015 by Joe Kennedy, Managing Broker of A New Day Real Estate and Co-Founder of the Bellevue Real Estate Investors Network. It appeared yesterday at ANewDayRealEstate.com.
As of today, there are only 31 residential properties in Bellevue that are listed for rent on the Northwest Multiple Listing Service.
These Bellevue rental properties range in price from $1,200 a month for a 1 bedroom, 1 bath condo at the Silver Glen 55+ community to $8,500 a month for a 3,710 square foot home, with 5 bedrooms, 4 baths on Bellevue Way at the base of Clyde Hill.
Although there are a lot of other places that property owners advertise available rental units, from the current NWMLS stats, there is a real lack of available and ‘affordable’ rentals in Bellevue. There are only 5 properties in Bellevue currently listed for rent at a cost of less than $2,000 a month – and those are all condos or apartments.
While some property owners are really fishing for higher than market prices and are seeing their properties languish on the market for long periods, there has recently been a noticeable number of landlords that have ‘adjusted’ their prices to get their properties leased out.
One professional suggestion to rental property owners, as well as brokers who manage rental properties in Bellevue: while commissions and compensation are always negotiable, if you are listing your property for lease, it ‘might’ be a smart idea to fairly compensate other leasing brokers for their time and efforts. Today I noticed one listing that is only offering a $250 commission for leasing a house here in Bellevue. Not surprising that this house has been on the market for some time – and won’t be surprising if the property never gets leased. Just as in any other profession, leasing brokers do need to be properly compensated for their time. If you are a rental property owner and do not want to pay a leasing broker, be prepared to do the work yourself.
