April 28, 1991 | By Ellen James Martin, Baltimore Sun

If you have a grant to study literature in Sweden for a year, want a getaway from the suburbs to live in a downtown condo, or simply can’t sell your home for what you think it’s worth, then you could be a prospective landlord.

»You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to accurately test the rental market in your neighborhood,» says Monte Helme, a vice president with the California-based Century 21 realty chain. He and other real estate specialists suggest a few easy ways to estimate the rental value of your home before you commit to renting: Seek information from a real estate firm that handles rentals. Many realty offices can give you a good estimate of local rents by checking data on their computers through the nationwide Multiple Listing Service, Helme points out. An MLS printout should give you solid information on rents charged for homes near yours.

Remember that taking such information from a realty office neither commits you to a decision on renting nor to hiring that realty firm to assist in the rental process. (Most home rentals are handled without the help of professional property managers, who typically ask for a month’s rent in exchange for finding a tenant.) Keep in mind that the primary business of most residential real estate companies is sales rather than rentals. Most will gladly offer free information on rental values in the hope that some day you will sell your home through their office, Helme says.

Check ads for home rentals in your local newspaper. You can get a good general sense of the rental value of your property by surveying the papers that serve your community, says Mary Jo Button, a sales manager with Prudential Preferred Properties.

It is more important to find ads describing property that is similar to yours than to find rental homes in your immediate neighborhood. For example, it would be better to compare your three-bedroom town house in Community A with a three-bedroom house in nearby Community B than to compare your town house to a rancher up the street.

Telephone the people who are advertising property to get a sense of the market.

If you are diplomatic when you call, most landlords will tell you about the market as they have found it — even though you admit you are not a prospective tenant yourself, says Button, who has had extensive experience in making cold calls through her realty work.

In questioning another landlord, first make sure you know the basics on his property. Where is the home located? How many bedrooms does it have? How large is the yard? Last, and most important, make sure you know how much rent is being charged and whether the figure includes utilities.

After you have established that you are dealing with a similar property, ask the landlord about the impact of his ad. How many calls has he had? What is the profile of the people calling? What has been the reaction to the rent asked? How many showings has he conducted? If the property already has been rented, how long did it take and how much did the tenant agree to pay?

If, based on your research, you estimate that the market for your rental would yield less than you had hoped, you might want to consider positioning your home as what Button calls a »niche rental.» The idea is to cater to a particular segment of the market where demand is high but supply is low. She offers two possibilities: — Consider tenants with pets.

Because most apartments ban dogs or cats, the demand for rental housing where the tenant could keep a cherished pet is keen. The likelihood is that you will attract a large number of prospects and get 5 percent to 10 percent more in rent than a like property where pets are prohibited, Button says.

Of course, after the tenant and pets depart, some of your extra cash may have to go for fumigation or repairs to carpets or hardwood floors. And don’t count on covering such costs with a security deposit, Button cautions. It’s not uncommon for a tenant to leave without paying the last month’s rent — on the assumption that his security deposit will cover that.

Still, if you have reason to trust the tenant and consider the pet relatively harmless, this could be a satisfactory way to increase rent, she says.

- Consider renting on a month-to-month basis.

Most landlords want the conventional one-year lease when they rent. They do not want the aggravation and expense of having to rent and re-rent the property on a frequent basis. What they may not realize, however, is that a short-term or flexible lease can attract not only high-income tenants but premium rents as well, says Button.

Executives from out of town who have moved into your area for temporary business assignments and families awaiting completion of their dream homes are among those you are likely to attract when you offer flexible rental terms in your advertising.

Is your home on which you would offer a flexible lease located in a popular neighborhood? Then you can expect to get 20 percent to 25 percent more in monthly rent than a landlord with a like property who insists on a conventional one-year lease, Button says.