Property managers seeing more rental success in 2012

This year is looking positive for property managers who are attracting prospective renters for their housing units. According to a recent survey released by TransUnion, many landlords are reporting low vacancy rates, with 83 percent of respondents stating the number for their respective properties is between 0 and 5 percent. This represents a 2 percent increase from 2011. Seventy percent of smaller property managers said they have zero vacancies, a significant increase from last year. Managers are increasingly finding it easier to attract tenants to their rental properties, which may be a reason as to why the vacancy rates are low. Nearly three quarters of landlords stated they don't have much difficulty finding renters. However, some landlords are still concerned with trying to attract renters who will consistently make their payments on time and won't abandon the property, says the survey. More than half of the landlords surveyed said they have had a tenant "skip out" on a unit, leaving damages or evading rent. Microbilt offers the Renter Report Card to businesses in order to determine whether or not a prospective tenant will be approved or denied for a property. The program searches a variety of databases and allows landlords to record valuable data with a custom renter screen.