Should You Use a Real Estate Agent to Find Your Next Rental?

Finding a rental can be time consuming and difficult. While many tenants simply do their own searching on Zillow.com and Realtor.com, there may be reasons to hire a tenants agent to assist you in the process.

Zillow.com shows rentals in St. Louis, but only the ones where the landlord and agent pays Zillow to list. Many listings from the Realtor MLS never make it to the Zillow.com list.

Realtor.com will show you all the homes for lease in St. Louis from listed by a realtor on the MLS, but it does not contain many listings listed by property management companies and landlords who do not have it listed on MLS.

If you are doing your own search it is best to search both Zillow.com and Realtor.com to make sure you are not missing any homes available for rent.

If you decide to hire a tenants agent to assist you in finding your next home for lease, you can expect the agent to help with:

  • Finding listings on MLS, Realtor.com, Zillow.com and other listing sources

  • Gathering information on the listing to make sure the home is a good fit

  • Scheduling showings and getting answers to final questions and details

  • Guiding through the lease application process

  • Lease review and electronic signatures

  • Assisting with move-in coordination and actives

  • Assisting with utility activations for the rental home

The cost to hire a Tenant’s Agent can vary from company to company but the typical fee is equal to one month’s rent. Often the listing agent or landlord is offering a commission to your Tenant’s Agent, which can vary from a couple hundred dollars up to 25% of the first months rent. Any fee paid to the Tenant’s Agent should reduce the amount you owe your agent at lease signing.

Avenue Tenant’s Agent Fee is equal to one months rent, with $250 due up front to start the search and remaining balance due upon lease signing.

An example scenario of a $1,500 lease would typically cost you $250 to start, and $850 at lease signing. This scenario assumes the Landlord or Listing Agent is paying a 25% ($375) commission to your agent.