You heard it here first folks. Back on September 7th 2007 I reported that we’d be seeing rents on the rise

“There is a flight to rentals in a big way right now. You get foreclosed on, you go rent. You just got out of college and barely have a job, you rent. You had a few bumps in the road and a few late payments on your credit score - right now you are renting. Good for us!”

Just in the last week or so there are two new articles pointing to exactly this phenomenon. For the first one yours truly was contacted by Banker & Tradesman [4-21-08 Banker & Tradesman Article] for a quote.

The second article popped up today on Inman News and that article is echoing the same cause and effect that I point to in my interview.

If you have been sidelined by the high prices over the last few years that prevented rental property from making sense - now is the time to buy. Buying now while rents are rising will give you a big advantage as you’ll be able to maximize your rents and profit over the next several years.

Increasing rents increases the value of your property. Get out there and find something that has under market rents and pay accordingly. Improve the performance of the building over the next few years as rents rise and you’ll be glad you did. In an upcoming article I’m going to write about ‘forced appreciation’ to round out this position, for now you can Google it.