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Recent Renters Reveal Five Winning Strategies to Land a Place in Today’s Hot Market

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New Zillow survey finds being flexible about move-in date and offering to pay more up front are the top strategies to land a rental in an ultracompetitive market

Seattle, WA – Oct. 27, 2022 (PRNewswire) Typical monthly rents are the highest they’ve ever been ($2,084 as of September), yet the rising cost of buying a home is keeping more and more people in the rental market. Safe to say, it’s a stressful time to be a renter. In a recent Zillow survey,i more than one-third of recent renters (defined as Americans who moved into a rental unit in the past 2 years) reported that getting their current rental was more difficult than getting a new job. 

What’s making it so hard to land a rental? On top of determining how to afford a new place, renters face fierce competition from those who want or need to continue renting. Standing out to potential landlords among a slew of applicants is difficult, and staying organized to move quickly is of the utmost importance. Zillow asked recent successful renters for strategies they used to land their home. 

Strategy 1: Be flexible about move-in date
More than one-third (34%) of recent renters said this strategy helped. Moving in earlier or later than initially planned is a (sometimes expensive) sacrifice, but it can help open up more options for renters. If a landlord won’t budge on a proposed lease start date and the renter is able to stay with friends or relatives during the lease gap or have rental payments overlap for a short time, this strategy has been proven to work.

For renters who don’t have this flexibility, it’s best to keep their search specific to homes that line up with their move-in timing. Zillow’s new move-in date filter can better align the end of a lease with the start of a new one, eliminating the “double rent” scenario.

Strategy 2: Be willing to pay more up front 
In Zillow’s survey of recent renters, 30% said paying at least two months’ rent in advance helped them win their most recent rental. Only 20% of renters said they were involved in a bidding war for their place, but paying more up front may be a way to grab the attention of a landlord. 

Even when that’s not an option, renters should always make their best offer. Renters can start by researching and knowing what they can afford before even starting their search. Zillow’s rent affordability calculator can help determine their price range, and Zillow’s Rental Market Trends tool provides an up-to-date look at their desired market to help them feel confident they are getting a fair deal.

Strategy 3: Have strong references 
Serious renters should have all of their documentation ready to go even before they start searching. It’s common for landlords to ask for references, so having a few options ready to attest to a renter’s reliability and trustworthiness is an important strategy — one that helped 29% of recent renters land their place. 

In addition, Zillow’s Renter Profile helps renters get a jump on putting their best foot forward and moving quickly when it comes time to apply. Renters create a personal profile outlining their renter qualifications, such as employment, income and credit score, as well as their desired move-in date and lease duration. A profile allows them to introduce themselves to potential landlords and offer a sense of what they’re looking for in a rental.

Strategy 4: Being one of the first applicants 
Landlords don’t want their units sitting vacant for any longer than they have to, so it makes sense that being one of the first applicants was a successful strategy for more than 1 in 4 (26%) recent renters. In fact, in some areas, renters can move faster by taking advantage of virtual 3D Home tours and interactive floor plans on many Zillow rental listings. This quickly narrows their options, avoids wasting time touring apartments that are not a good fit and enables them to be among the first to apply. Renters should also check to see if the city in which they are searching has laws requiring landlords to accept the first applicant who meets all requirements.   

Applications do still take time, and they come with a cost. Renters can gain advantages of both speed and savings in this supercharged market simply by using Zillow Applications. For a flat fee of $29, renters can use Zillow Applications to apply online for an unlimited number of participating properties for 30 days, which gives them the ability to control costs and add flexibility to their search. 

Strategy 5: Offering to sign a longer lease 
For a landlord, there’s a lot of work that goes into filling a rental unit, so the additional security of knowing that their rental will have a tenant for more than just a typical 12-month period may make an offer more attractive. In fact, 23% of recent renters noted that this strategy helped them into their place. 

In a market where rent prices continue to climb, signing a longer lease can be a great strategy for renters, too. Locking in the current price for two years instead of one can help them avoid annual rent increases. 

Despite the cooling temperatures, aspiring renters are entering an extremely hot rentals market this fall, but one or more of these proven strategies can help them land their next rental. 

About Zillow Group
Zillow Group, Inc. (NASDAQ: Z and ZG) is reimagining real estate to make it easier to unlock life’s next chapter. As the most visited real estate website in the United States, Zillow® and its affiliates offer customers an on-demand experience for selling, buying, renting, or financing with transparency and ease. 

Zillow Group’s affiliates and subsidiaries include Zillow®; Zillow Premier Agent®; Zillow Home Loans™; Zillow Closing Services™; Trulia®; Out East®; StreetEasy®; HotPads®; and ShowingTime+™, which houses ShowingTime®, Bridge Interactive®, and dotloop®. Zillow Home Loans, LLC is an Equal Housing Lender, NMLS #10287 (www.nmlsconsumeraccess.org).

i This survey was conducted online within the United States by The Harris Poll on behalf of Zillow from August 9-11, 2022 among 2,064 U.S. adults ages 18 and older, among whom 406 have moved into a rental unit in the past 2 years. The sampling precision of Harris online polls is measured by using a Bayesian credible interval.  For this study, the sample data is accurate to within + 2.8 percentage points using a 95% confidence level. For complete survey methodology, including weighting variables and subgroup sample sizes, please contact press@zillow.com 

SOURCE Zillow

U.S. Renters Spent $504 Billion on Housing in 2018

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– Renters spent more on housing than ever before in 2018, even with fewer renter households

– Renters paid $12.6 billion more in rent this year than they did in 2017 – which is about a 2.6 percent increase.

– There are about 43.2 million households renting in the United States, a slight decline from 2017.

– More than 10 percent ($55.6 billion) of all rent collected in the United States came from renters living in the New York City metro area.

– Rents are currently rising the fastest in Orlando and Las Vegas, and renters in each of those cities spent about $4.4 billion on rent this year.

SAN FRANCISCO, Dec. 21, 2018 (PRNewswire) U.S. households spent a record amount on rent in 2018 despite a decrease in the number of households who rent their home, according to a new HotPads® analysis. Overall, the U.S. spent $504.4 billion on rent in 2018 – more than the entire GDP of Belgium ($494.7 billion)(i) and three times the current net worth of Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos ($124 billion)(ii).

Renters spent $12.6 billion more paying their rent in 2018 than they did in 2017. The current median rent is $1,475, up 3 percent from a year ago. Throughout 2018, rents rose about 3 percent year over year – continuing a gradual slowdown in rent appreciation that began in mid-2016.

However, the number of renter households in the U.S. decreased slightly in 2018. There were about 43.2 million renter households across the country this year – nearly 100,000 fewer than in 2017.

A gradual slowdown in rent appreciation has allowed renters looking to purchase homes greater ability to save for a down payment in recent years, and millennials – the generation comprising half of today’s renters — are also buying homes more than any other generation(iii). With more eligible buyers on the market, the number of renter households has decreased slightly over the past year.

“After several years of a booming economy, more millennials became financially able to become home owners in 2018,” said Joshua Clark, economist at HotPads. “However, rent affordability continues to be a challenge, as those who still rent are paying even higher prices now than they were a year ago. If interest rates continue rising in 2019, more would-be homebuyers may decide to continue renting, which could put additional pressure on rent prices. Fortunately for renters, the housing market is also cooling nationwide, signaling that the entire market may be leveling off and making it easier for renters to keep up with housing expenses.”

Of the 50 largest metro areas in the U.S., renters in the New York City metro area spent the most on rent this year – a total of $55.6 billion. However, rent growth in the New York metro also slowed in 2018. Rents in the New York City metro area are rising just 1 percent annually now, compared to 1.8 percent annually at this time last year.

While rent appreciation has been steady or slowed in many metro areas, some markets in the Southeast and Southwest are still seeing significant price gains. Rents are appreciating the fastest in Orlando, Las Vegas and Phoenix, at a rate more than twice as fast as the national median. Renters in Orlando and Las Vegas spent about $4.4 billion on rent in 2018, while renters in Phoenix spent about $7.5 billion.

HotPads is a Zillow® Group-owned apartment and home search platform for renters in urban areas across the United States. For more information on the U.S. rental market, visit HotPads.com.

HotPads is an efficient rental search platform for urban areas across the United States, with features designed for competitive markets such as map-based search, real-time notifications and detailed information on landlords and property managers that help renters spend less time searching and more time feeling excited about their next home.

Launched in 2005, HotPads is based in San Francisco and is owned and operated by Zillow Group, Inc. (NASDAQ: Z and ZG).

HotPads is a registered trademark of Zillow, Inc.

(i) U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, 2017

(ii) As of December 20, 2018. https://www.bloomberg.com/billionaires/profiles/jeffrey-p-bezos/

(iii) Millennials are the largest single group of home renters (50 percent) and home buyers (42 percent), according to the 2018 Zillow Group Report on Consumer Housing Trends.

(iv) Projected through the end of 2018



The Best (And Worst) Cities for Renters

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At a time when huge numbers of young people can’t afford to buy their own home, the rental market is booming. The alternative for the so-called Generation Rent isn’t exactly attractive either, though. As more and more people flock to the major cities for bigger salaries and better opportunities, property owners are able to cash in on an often out of control rental market.

The rent burden can be measured by looking at the share of the average household income that the typical rent eats into each month. As our infographic below shows, based on data from RENTCafé the worst place for renters is Mexico City. With an oppressive 60 percent of earnings going to the landlord.

Further north in the U.S., the situation isn’t too much better. With 59 percent of the average salary being poured into rent in Manhattan, the New York borough is the second worst place on the list to be a renter. Those looking to move to LA and San Francisco should be prepared to kiss goodbye to 47 and 41 percent of their pay packet, respectively. Of the cities focused on here, Chicago would be the best bet, at 38 percent.

RENTCafé’s benchmark for burden-free rent is 30 percent. With this in mind, Germany’s cool capital Berlin might be a good option. Alternatively, the city with the best ratio was found to be Kuala Lumpur. Anyone renting in the Malaysian capital will be free to spend up to as much as 80 percent of their income as they so desire.

This chart shows the share of household income required to pay rent in selected cities in 2017.

You will find more statistics at Statista