Thank you for visiting my website and I hope it is useful. I am not always available to help show rentals. On occasion I may help find luxury rentals as I am sometimes aware of properties becoming available in the future. But my time constraints limit showings as sales are my business and rental I help for free. I'm always available to answer email requests if needed, but as my rental listings are reciprocal listings for other agents - I may not always have detailed information concerning your requests. Change the RESIDENTIAL button at the top to a RENTAL search button on the MLS free search page...​

http://www.classiccharlestonhomes.com/FreeMLSSearch

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Apartments are rented by property management companies as they are owned in totality by one entity. Apartment rentals are usually found online or in the yellow pages under apartments. http://www.apartmentguide.com/apartments/South-Carolina/Charleston/    Condominiums are owned individually and each owner sets his or her restrictions as to how they want to rent their home, the lease length,allowing pets, how much to charge, and whether to leave it furnished or unfurnished.  Pet policies and length of leases are also sometimes dictated by the Covenants & Restrictions of Condominium Associations, so occasionally a condo owner may not have a choice. Many luxury condos in Charleston have a minimum lease period of one year to help protect all the residents from interruptions and wear & tear of constant turnovers of tenants. Condos are more difficult to obtain as they are usually listed with Realtors on the Multiple Listing Service. The finders fee is usually so minimal of up to 10% of the first month's rent, that it discourages many real estate agents from wanting to even deal with them, because the same effort will produce thousands if they are working sales. If you find an agent who is willing to show you more than one rental, you need to be loyal to that agent for taking the time to work with you or give the agent a fee of gratitude if you find something else on your own or online.

 

I personally do all of my rental help work for charity. I consider that to be my time, gas cost, and any finders' fees I may receive if successful. I give to 3 various local agencies or if my client has a preference I will follow that lead. I would like to see all agents take this tack but for now, I try to lead by example. That does not mean that I can help every person who calls or spend my whole day doing rentals as I do need to earn a living. I am very loyal to my sales clients and they take priority. I will do rentals when I have some down time between sales clients, but there are also certain times of the year when agents are particularly busy and it is difficult to carve out time for rental demands. I will always make an effort to help you whether to get another agent or help myself in some way, but please understand the reasons why agents cannot just drop all business to help in a rental situation.

 

For College of Charleston students, there are various avenues for you to follow to find rentals,  Charleston is experiencing a rental shortage. Good housing is difficult to find. Unfortunately inconsiderate actions of former students not caring for property properly has led many landlords to neglect their properties or rent them in a condition that is not always very nice. They still seem to be able to rent them for a healthy amount, so I expect these properties to continue to be on the market. The online rental search for the Fall of the following year usually starts around February when owners begin to start to list their properties. Yard signs will be posted for many good rentals,  and snapped up beginning in January.  Often students can find older students who are leaving and reserve a condo before it ever goes on the market. I get calls almost daily for 21 George Street. There is a list of students wanting these condos, so unless you are interested in purchasing one of these, don't get your hopes up. I try to keep an ongoing list of potential tenants in the event that one does hit the market. Please check out http://www.ClassicCharleston.com  RENTAL page under MORE in the menu to see all available rentals on the market and their price range.  This MLS of rentals is only as good as the agents allow it to be. On occasion an agent may rent the property and forget to mark it as RENTED. Also, these properties go quickly, so what is available one day is quite possibly gone the next, so don't be surprised to visit a potential property only to find out it is gone when you reach that agency to fill out an application. Dowload the  standard South Carolina rental application. As a student, you may be required to have your parents sign this. Do yourself a favor by having this filled out in advance and be ready with a check for a down payment to secure your rental.

 

For business executives the search may be easier. Many of the better properties limit the rental to NO STUDENTS. Whether or not you have a pet will determine how difficult your search will be as a lot of these properties have a NO PET restriction as well. If you have a pet, be prepared to pay full rent with a possible non-refundable pet fee. If you are a single person, you may be able to negotiate your rent slightly, but the shortage has made that less of an option these days. Financing is not as difficult as one thinks, so if you discover that you cannot find a rental that suits your needs, you may find that it is not as impossible to purchase something as previously imagined. Definitely call me if you need to discuss the possibility of a purchase.

 

For visitors looking for short term rentals, I do not handle these as most condominium buildings have restrictions preventing this type of lease. Other alternatives are to check out VRBO.com online, AIRBNB, call to a B & B to inquire on a monthly rental rate, or use an extended stay hotel in the area as there are several on both sides of the downtown Charleston area.

 

Why don't real estate agents call me back about rentals?

The Charleston market only pays a small commission for agents finding rental properties. It might be because investors with rental properties are trying to cut as much of their cost as possible, but I am not really sure why some cities pay a month of rent as commission but here it is usually much less. Here commission is almost always a very small percentage of the first month's rent (for example, 8 - 10 %).  Gas costs more than the payoff. The agents who call back will be those who actually manage the property and have the listing, or an agent trying to help someone.  Unfortunately, the money earned is not enough to live on, so there is a void in services for finding rentals. Compounding that,  with the current shortage of rentals, it is more difficult than ever to actually find a good place without losing it first to another agent or renter.