[octoberfranklin]

Never rent through a real estate agent. You're at a disadvantage, they're too good at screwing tenants.

Look at it objectively: two people have to be able to make a profit off of you in this arrangement (the owner and their realtor) and both of those margins will be pretty fat since neither of them is a long-term employee of the other, like you'd see in an apartment complex with an on-site manager.

Real estate agents are always on the landowner's side. Just accept this and the whole system will make more sense (this goes for buying or selling a house too).

[ricardobayes]

Yes, according to my experience the owners who actually care and will solve any issues are not using real estate agents. Only those who want to be 'hands off' do. It usually ends up not being a great experience for everyone involved.

[mijamo]

My experience is that the owners not usings agents are the cheap ones that will cause trouble for everything and not pay up for renovations and things breaking down. Hands off owners are the best as they just let the agent handle things professionally instead of trying to save a buck by calling illegal workers to half fix everything, then steal your deposit because things are broken when you leave. I have not met any of those magical owner that fixes everything correctly and would go the extra mile and I actually wonder what would be their inventive to do so, when simply having an agent take care of everything would save their time.

[gregkerzhner]

I (hope) I’m like this. Im not handy at all, and have a tenant. When a problem arises for them, I just call the appropriate person (plumber, handyman, etc..) to come fix it. It’s the same thing I do when a problem arises in my own house. Problems don’t tend to come up too often, maybe once every few months, so I don’t see why I need to pay someone to handle this stuff for me.

[throwaway744678]

This has not been my experience as a renter and as an owner. The realtor's margins for renting are quite low, which means they try to make things as smooth as possible for everyone, to minimize their work: in particular, they try to get the house/apartment rented as soon as possible, to make as few visits as possible; the also have an interest in the tenant staying the longest time possible. As always, I guess it depends on your real estate agent, though!