How many of you read the latest rental market survey? I was impressed with how much detail they were able to get from about 1,600 responses. TurboTenant Topics covered included:

1. Rent trends: How landlords are adjusting rent and where prices are holding steady

2. Rental demand: What demand actually looks like for independent landlords today

3. Vacancy timelines: How quickly units are filling and what to expect

4. Rising costs: The true cost of being a landlord, from insurance to taxes

5. Concessions: Whether offering discounts is necessary in this market

6. Competition: How landlords are navigating tenant expectations and market pressure

7 The Look ahead: What landlords are planning next and how they’re adapting

What are your thoughts in these specific aspects of business in your local area?

Having had a few availabilities already this year, I can give some feedback:

1. Rent trends: How landlords are adjusting rent and where prices are holding steady: HOLDING STEADYING on the previous several years extra-HIGH rents.

2. Rental demand: What demand actually looks like for independent landlords today: DEMAND is WAY down - people cannot afford higher rents.

3. Vacancy timelines: How quickly units are filling and what to expect: We've gone from 45 day turnaround from notice to lease signing to 60 days or more.

4. Rising costs: The true cost of being a landlord, from insurance to taxes: INSURANCE out of sight. Taxes not too bad in our area, but we receive virtually NO services either. Septics, Wells, volunteer fire, no trash pick-up, etc.

5. Concessions: Whether offering discounts is necessary in this market: DISCOUNTS - if you mean LOWERING rents or NOT RAISING rents, it's crucial - people are NOT getting raises in income that keeps pace with rents.

6. Competition: How landlords are navigating tenant expectations and market pressure: I see a lot of landlords using AI to write their ads and it's not working. RENT is rent and people need lower rents.

7 The Look ahead: What landlords are planning next and how they’re adapting: Just holding steady: fixing what needs to be fixed, updating if we need to update. Can't do anything else - just maintaining to stay rentable.

Was this a Turbo tenant survey?

My comments are similar to WMH. I'm keeping rents increases moderate and cutting costs where I can. Insurance goes up every year but I bagged huge savings on my commercial umbrella last year. Pays to shop insurance every year. I'm finding my smaller/cheaper units easier to fill. I have one three bedroom to fill now and the going has been slow. I'm glad I only have one apartment this large.

Some highlights -

Headlines maybe tilted based on perspective.

Small Landlords operate differently than larger operators.

The chart that outlined the length of time to fill vacancies was telling.