“What do you mean, you do not do rentals?”
Several times a year, people want to find rental housing reach out to me by phone or email, asking for help in locating rentals of various sorts. When I explain that most Santa Clara County real estate agents do not work with rentals or leases, myself included, the reaction runs from surprise or even disbelief to anger.
In many areas of the U.S., real estate agents routinely handle leases or month to month rentals. Why not here?
Why would Realtors not do rentals in Silicon Valley?
In the Silicon Valley or San Jose area, most leases or rentals are offered “for rent by owner”. The owners choose not to hire realty professionals to represent them, and they elect not to want to pay commissions. So while in many areas of the country, landlords employ real estate licensees to help them to rent properties, here that is seldom the case – at least in terms of offerings made available to the public.
Bottom line: owners may hire agents to manage properties, but historically haven’t wanted to pay commissions to the Realtors or sales people working with people trying to locate rental housing. The end result is that most real estate sales people do not do rentals here. (But it could change.)
Most homes for rent can be found on Craigslist or Zillow, but there are a very, very few offered on our local MLS (MLSListings.com). How few is few? Just now I ran ALL of the rentals available in all of Santa Clara County – apartments, condos, townhouses, attached homes, detached houses. In a population of 1.8 million people, can you guess how many rental homes are on the MLS this moment? It’s 158 as of November 20, 2024. Just single family homes = 78.
This is more than double what was listed when I first wrote this article in 2013. One big change has been who pays the fees for home buyer’s agents. In August 2024 we had a sea change with how buyer’s agents are paid, with the baseline now being that buyers pay for their own agents, but the cost frequently shifted to the seller in negotiations.
If this is also to be the case with rental properties. and buyers sign a contract with their real estate professionals, perhaps this situation would change. It’s still early on. Perhaps that shift is also happening with home renters? I truly do not know since I do not do rentals (and I don’t know of any Realtor colleagues who do).
In the past, with our chronic and persistent inventory shortage, for years most landlords felt that they don’t have to pay whatever the fee would be to locate a tenant. Not only that, but many full time agents wouldn’t be too excited about spending weeks with a rental client only to get a small fee and then split that with their company! It hasn’t seemed worthwhile. It will be interesting to see if this changes.
Summary on rental housing and real estate agents in Silicon Valley
So when you call your local real estate licensee asking about rentals available, please understand that this isn’t part of what is usually done in the Los Gatos, Monte Sereno, Saratoga or nearby areas in general. Yes, there are some exceptions. But for the most part, the owners of those properties haven’t wanted us involved. On the other hand, if you are willing to pay for their services, there may be a real estate professional anxious to learn the rental market. And that may be the wave of the future.
For related reading:
Finding Rental Housing in San Jose, Santa Clara County and Silicon Valley
More affordable homes to buy or rent in Silicon Valley with better schools
What do Silicon Valley Real Estate Agents Do? (how their time is spent)
