Finding a Renter's Agent: It Can Be Done

I'm a mom in a small apartment, crammed in with husband, two small children, two home offices and loads of papers, books, photos, toys and computer equipment we've gathered over the years. The apartment, though well-located and managed by a very nice guy, just isn't meeting our needs. So we're ready to start looking for another, bigger place.

At first, I wasn't very optimistic because a) I don't want to spend a lot more than the modest sum I'm paying out now and b) the dotcom crash in 2001-02 did some nasty things to my consumer credit. Both of these are millstones in a high-end suburb like Reston, not to mention a prosperous region like Fairfax County, where houses are in the high $300s at the lowest end. I hoped an agent could get me past these issues but I wasn't very confident that he or she was out there.

Well, much to my surprise, a query on networking site LinkedIn produced just the person I was hoping for. The realtor, Springfield, Va.-based Peter Schlossberg of RE/MAX 100, agreed to take on our "case" for a very small fee, in addition to the slightly larger (but still modest) fee he gets from the listing agent for the rental property. Not only is he willing to show us properties from the multiple listing services, he's willing to talk us up to prospective landlords and reassure them that we're good tenants. That's invaluable by itself. Basically, he's working for peanuts, while giving us the service we might get for a deal that would net him thousands.

Why is he doing this? Not for the money, obviously. Pete says that he's taking the long view -- that we might someday need a house, and he'll get the business -- or that we'll praise him to others who are ready to buy. (I think it's partly because he's just a really nice guy, too, but he's too modest to cop to that.)

I will say that while my LinkedIn query produced Pete, and one other Realtor willing to follow a similar model, my gut feeling is that such a service is fairly unusual. Most of the national commentators answering my query said the idea was just impractical. (One Manhattan Realtor did note that if an apartment rents for $10,000 a month, her commission could justify the effort.)

Still, all told, this gives me a glimmer of hope that I will be able to negotiate this very difficult housing market without being turned away daily. In fact, I already have my eye on a couple of nice-looking townhomes in Reston and Herndon which look as though they'd be a good fit for our needs. I'm thrilled by the idea that I have some good choices. But most of all, I'm grateful to have found Pete. God bless the renter's agent.