Real Estate Agent Tenant Representation in Hampton Roads
- Adam Garrett
- May 10, 2023
- 11 min read
Updated: Aug 12
In this article, I go over the free resources I have available, the typically paid rental assistance that I offer to prospective tenants, some alternatives, some exceptions, rebate information, etc.
Basics:
Free Information on my Website
On my website, you'll find a number of free resources available, many of which apply to prospective tenants, in addition to my Virginia tenant guide & SE VA area guide.
1. Renting: Some basic tips
3. Renting When You Have Low Credit or Eviction History
4. Rent or Buy: Choosing which is best for you
7. Reducing Rent Costs for Tenants
8. Assistance with Utility Bills
9. Immigrant Housing Recommendations
10. Budgeting
11. Credit
12. More for Tenants
Adam's Personal Tenant Assistance as a Rental Agent
Because of the hourly fee involved for my tenant representation & the fact that everyone's needs are different, how I will help will depend on your preferences.
1. Gathering information from you to help develop the best property searches & the right questions prior to going to homes
2. Setting up an MLS feed for you to get properties sent to you as they hit the market on MLS, including to your texts if desired
3. Helping you set up searches on other websites (in person or via remote desktop)
4. Asking questions of landlords/property managers prior to property viewing if some information unique to you would rule out properties that isn't visible online
5. Going with you to properties to represent you, pointing out positives and negatives
6. Going through the lease agreement with you
7. Helping with other needs you might have, like boosting your credit, budgeting, area tours, acquiring a driver's license if you don't have one, have just moved here, and are legally able to acquire one
I do not offer property management services for landlords, only tenant representation. Here are some basic tips on renting out your home.
Disclosures on Tenant Knowledge Being Primarily Crossover Topics w/ Sales
While it is true that I was contracted out for years by a relocation company including but not limited to being for area tours, rental assistance, & otherwise in Hampton Roads, sales are still my primary focus. When I was contracted out I averaged <10 hrs per week with that while still focusing primarily on sales. I am not as familiar with landlord/tenant customs/law/contracts as I am with residential sales. My greatest assets are in areas of crossover, such as a high volume of crossover education about what to look for in a home both positively and negatively, having the right gadgets/tools when previewing properties, having plenty of digital tools available, having excellent options for video showings if you're distant, setting up a search for you, etc. While I have compiled a list of locations to find rentals, & have some crossover information such as for setting up utilities, most of my compilations & resources, as you can see from this website, are geared toward purchases.
Want to Purchase if You Could or Are You Considering a Future Purchase?
If you're considering a purchase or if you would like to purchase if you could, you might find the following beneficial:
1. Rent or Buy
4. Buyers
Coverage Area
I am available to help tenants locate rentals throughout my coverage area:
That includes Hampton Roads (South Side, Virginia Peninsula, & Middle Peninsula), Greater Richmond, & the Northern Neck.
Locations served include the following:
Caroline,
Chesapeake,
Charles City,
Chesterfield,
Colonial Heights,
Dinwiddie,
Franklin,
Gloucester,
Goochland,
Hanover,
Hampton,
Henrico,
Hopewell,
Isle of Wight,
James City County,
King William,
King & Queen,
Lancaster County,
Mathews,
Middlesex,
Newport News,
New Kent,
Norfolk,
Northumberland,
Petersburg,
Poquoson,
Portsmouth,
Powhatan,
Prince George,
City of Richmond,
Richmond County,
Southampton,
Suffolk,
Surry,
Sussex,
Virginia Beach,
Williamsburg,
York County,
and beyond!
Fee Related:
Why an Hourly Fee?
Unlike buying a home, where the seller pays a decent amount to buyer's agents in the vast majority of cases (Often 2.5%-3% of the sales price), in the rental market, landlords, if they pay anything to those assisting renters, pay very little in the vast majority of cases. If a landlord is offering a rental agent finder's fee, it's often 10% of the first month's rent, which is usually less than 5% versus what they would receive for a similar home buyer for significantly more than 5% of the work.
One of the reasons why most new full-time agents don't make it in the business is because of activities that don't make sense financially, with free rental assistance being a common one. In my own career, there were many activities that didn't make sense financially that I initially engaged in, with free rental assistance being one of them. That's one of the reasons why I only sold 3 homes in my first year of business (vs >30 in the past year at the time of this writing). In order to grow in my business, I had to say no to some things, whether free rental assistance for anyone who asked or even my favorite job ever, being a youth minister for over 4 years. I was a youth minister part-time throughout the first 4 years of being in the real estate business. After ceasing being a youth minister, my business grew by 50% or more the next year, and the year after that was around double the year prior. While there are still activities that I engage in that are charitable, such as a website I've developed for the homeless, poor, and frugal, including but not limited to offering a free credit boost and free budgeting assistance, free rental assistance for all is no longer one of my charitable activities. 87% of new full-time agents cease full-time real estate within 5 years.
Ways Different Agents Approach Tenant Assistance
Some agents avoid assisting tenants entirely or may limit their assistance to under 5 minutes by just referring them to some websites or basic information.
Some agents provide free tenant assistance of some form.
However, when experienced agents go about this assistance, it's not uncommon for them to prioritize their other work with sales because of the low or no compensation with rental assistance. That can mean giving those seeking to rent low-quality service.
Other agents who help renters to find a place are sometimes new agents with little expertise, but they are more apt to be attentive to tenant assistance than experienced agents.
Others like myself are able to give prospective tenants quality service through a fee, sometimes paid directly by the renter and sometimes paid by a relocation company like one that I used to work for where I helped renters for an hourly fee paid by that company. Partly via information from RentSpree, here are some of the ways that agents may charge:
hourly fee
1st month's rent
flat fee
% of the first year's rent like 10-15%
My Fees
An initial consultation of up to an hour over the phone or via Zoom is free.
After that, I offer rental assistance for a tiered hourly fee in South East VA with the cumulative time charged including:
Admin time like communication with those looking for a rental or the landlords/agents of prospective properties that they've inquired about, & research on their behalf
Transit to and from appointments with the tenant (which can be reduced via virtual appointments) and other transit for the tenants. For reference, I live in Governor's Pointe in Northern Suffolk. See map at bottom of this section for reference.
Showings.
For those who desire it, I can also provide area tours as I did in my previous work with Go Destination Services.
Other time spent on behalf of the tenant
Here are the tiers (before any discounts, rebates, &/or exceptions):
$75/hr - Final rental price at or below $1,000
$70/hr - Final rental price between $1,001 & $2000
$65/hr - Final rental price between $2,001 & $3000
$60/hr - Final rental price $3,001 & $4000
$55/hr - Final rental price $4,001 & $5000
$50/hr - Final rental price $5001+
I use a Google sheet for tracking my time updated daily so that a tenant can keep track of the time I've spent as often as they'd like to.
I live about 2 minutes into Governor's Pointe in Suffolk. While actual times vary, & costs can be saved by sequencing my existing travel plans where I frequent the peninsula & far beyond, here are some approximate times when traffic is low from the entrance of Governor's Pointe, not factoring in the additional approximately 2 minutes:
Discounts on my Fees
If the total time you need is less than an hour, I'll waive my hourly fee for that hour. For friends as defined below & for former closed clients under $500k total across closings, I'll waive the first 3 hours of my hourly fees. For former closed clients of $500k-$1,000,000 across closings, I'll waive the first 4.5 hrs of my fees. For former closed clients over $1,000,000 across closings, I'll waive the first 6 hrs of my fees.
Finders Fees:
Sometimes, but not always, landlords and tenants offer finders fees to agents. With free rental agents, they aren't supposed to, but are more likely to steer you toward properties with large finders fees, especially agents who have more questionable ethical standards and values. Any finders fee offered would be credited toward what you owe me, in some cases (though not typically) eliminating your costs entirely.
Referral from Family or a Friend Discount:
If we've never met, but you were referred by a friend or family member of mine, a 10% discount is available.
Acquaintance Discount:
If we've met, but we've probably seen each other less than 10 times, a 15% discount is available.
Friend or Former Client Discount:
Former clients receive a 25% discount. If we've seen each other at least 10 times across at least 10 days in a small group setting, a 25% discount is available.
% Discounts Don't Stack:
Any mentioned % discounts don't stack on top of other %s.
See below:
Exceptions to my Fees
Rebate for Later Purchase
Charitable Exceptions to my Fees
For any of the following, I can provide up to 3 hours of remote assistance free of charge, up to 10 hours per month across charitable requests, & 50% reduced costs for my typical fees after 3 hours if any further time is needed:
1. Victims of human trafficking having come out of it in the past 5 years
2. The homeless
3. Those getting evicted, selling their home with me via short sale, foreclosed on with nowhere to go, &/or immigrants with <$5k in liquid assets
4. Others in dire need with liquid assets of <$2000 & income <50% of the HUD median income per household size under my discretion
Remote assistance can include discussions such as:
1. How to use various websites to find a home for rent
2. How to acquire a rental when you have low income &/or bad credit
3. How to acquire programs to reduce your rent costs
5. Education advice
6. How to budget
8. In a number of cases, rather than engaging in much discussion, it's best for me to spend the majority of those hours on research and the creation of a resource for you, as I did when an immigrant reached out to me here.
Rebate for Later Purchase
If you receive paid rental assistance from me, then close on a house purchase or other real estate purchase at a later time with me as your agent, I will rebate 50% of the tenant assistance fees you pay me up to 33% of the gross commission my firm & I receive for closing on the purchase (100% rebate for any portion of it spent directly in viewing neighborhoods with clients away from homes shown).
Exclusions:
This offer cannot be combined with another offer (except exclusions, which can be stacked) & buyers must reach out directly to me in order to receive it rather than going through a referral source that I would need to pay a referral fee to (i.e. another licensed agent or an online referral source that requires referral fees from me). If a referral fee is involved, the rebate reduces to 25% of the fees you pay me.
No Expiration:
There is no expiration on this offer & renters can receive assistance on multiple occasions across multiple years up to the caps for a rebate. While this offer may change over time, the offer that was present at the initial time of service will stand.
Alternatives to my Fees
1. Most prospective tenants in SE VA don't receive help from agents on their side due to cost, unless a relocation company is paying for it.
2. There are some real estate agents, especially new ones, who are willing to help tenants for free. The lower their sales volume & the newer they are, the higher their chances of being willing to assist. If you contact 10 agents who have been in the business for <3 months, it's likely that you'll find at least a few who are willing to help for free. If you reach out to 20 experienced agents, you'll likely get at least a few who would be willing to help you. Keep in mind that agent quality substantially varies, even among experienced agents. While experience is important, even agents with over 50 years of experience sometimes don't offer that much beyond their knowledge. An article on what to look for in buyer's agents can give you an idea of things to look for with agents that help tenants.
3. If you reach out to 10 experienced real estate agents who do less than 3 million dollars per year in sales volume while working full time (you can often see their numbers on Zillow), you might be able to get some who will help you if you offer them $25/hr including showing time, driving time, and admin time. The higher their volume (I did over 8 million last year at the time of this initial writing), the less it makes sense for agents to help tenants for lower fees. If they won't accept $25/hr, they may accept a higher amount (i.e. $50/hr) or an amount equal to the 1st month's rent, though they will be less inclined to do so for lower-priced rentals.
4. Search the National Association of Realtors Directory for a "tenant specialist", but don't get your hopes up if doing so.
Image courtesy NAR
I recommend starting a search by state due to the low volume of those listed under that heading. If looking in VA, the options are far fewer than the options for purchasers and sellers. For instance, the "buyer brokerage" field produces 599 results in Virginia as of 6/22/23, & "Single Family" produces 348. Conversely, "tenant representative" produces only 10 results in VA as of 6/22/23, and the only one in Hampton Roads is a commercial agent. For commercial prospective tenants looking for a home for their business, I saw their brief page on their company's website, but I wasn't able to locate their fees for tenants. Despite the volume of tenants looking for homes to rent in NYC where property values are much higher, even the state of NY only had 9 options.
5. There are also some free & low-cost housing counseling resources available other than real estate agents through non-profits and other companies.
Here is HUD's list for housing counseling options close to you, where you should at a minimum:
A. Select "Rental Housing Services" as I did in the image below.
B. Input your preferred zip code.
C. Input the distance you'd be willing to go for service.
Image courtesy HUD
6. Do a Google search or a Chat GPT search, but again, don't get your hopes up. Here's an example: "Who is available for tenant assistance in Hampton Roads VA (a real estate agent or broker) for house finding beyond their own inventory that they've listed?"
Related:
3rd Party Related:
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