Homes for Rent Now Searchable on Edina Realty’s Website

Edina, Minn. – Oct. 29, 2010 – Consumers can now search for homes for rent in the Twin Cities as well as all of Minnesota, western Wisconsin and Fargo, N.D. on Edina Realty’s website.

NorthstarMLS began allowing brokers to display homes for rent on their websites on Sept. 1, but Edina Realty waited to display rentals until there were enough listings available to return a reasonable number of results. Currently, there are 389 active rental listings in the markets where Edina Realty does business.

"Edina Realty is in the business of helping people find homes. Our primary focus will always be buying and selling real estate," said Bob Peltier, Edina Realty president and CEO. "But the addition of residential homes for rent provides a key opportunity for Edina Realty agents to develop and maintain long-term relationships with a new group of clients who may not be ready to purchase or sell their home. When our agents satisfy their needs at this point, it's likely their clients would engage them again when they're ready to buy or sell."

Renting a home until the market is more favorable is an excellent interim solution for some homeowners, according to Peltier. Currently, for every sold sign, nine more properties remain on the market.* If the homeowners have already purchased another home, renting their former home can save them from having two mortgage payments.

Some rental listings may be offered on a rent-to-own basis, which is a solution for potential home buyers who don't have a down payment saved up.

Peltier said that as the available rental listings increase, Edina Realty will more actively promote this new searchable feature to consumers through its homepage, registered user emails and other marketing tactics.

* Based on information from the Minneapolis Area Association of REALTORS®, Inc. Data collected from the REGIONAL MULTIPLE LISTING SERVICE OF MINNESOTA, INC., for properties in the 13-county region exclusively.

Edina Realty, a subsidiary of HomeServices of America, is one of the nation’s largest real estate companies with more than 60 real estate offices throughout Minnesota, North Dakota and western Wisconsin and nearly 2,450 REALTORS®. Edina Realty’s family of companies includes Edina Realty, Edina Realty Title, and Edina Realty Mortgage. Edina Realty handled more than 28,000 transactions and $5.8 billion in sales volume in 2009. For more information, visit www.edinarealty.com.