Choosing how to rent is a big factor. I used airbnb and my first tenant was great, but the next one was a nightmare. It can work if you are nearby and can deal with things or have someone that can. I have rented through other sites like vacation rentals, and they tend to be good as the owner will be nearby. It does cut down the cost of management and also you can you make up your own rules. I have used a management company and they were useless, always charging for things and often taking the tenants side. In my case they even messed up the moving out date and did one check just before they moved out when the were supposed to do them every couple of months. The problem with letting companies is that they have a guideline and a standard set of rules and a contract. By using other sites, you can tailor things and also put in a clause so that if things don't work out you can get out problem tenants.
Using sites such airbnb to find tenants is great but there'll always be some problems tenants, some who are OK and a few who are good tenants. But you'll have to manage the property yourself, a responsibility which comes along with certain complications which could be avoided if you had someone handle the business end of things. Or you could do even better — form an LLC, be the company's "agent" . . . and dealing with problem tenants will be a lot easier.
I cannot relate with residential rentals but for vacations abroad, we usually stay in hotels. For the domestic trips, there are times that we contact an agent thru the travel agency for accommodations but mostly apartelles are the choices - this has no amenities like a hotel room or suite that comes with hot water, refrigerator and tv at least. Apartelles are beds only and sometimes an electric fan. It is actually called "homestay" because you are like a boarder although in some provinces, homestay means you will reside in a house of a native.
A lot of landlords here in the UK are finding that using a rental site is the better option for finding tenants. Agents for so long have been fixed in their ways, and they will charge fees and require credit checks and various deposits and securities before they'll even recommend a tenant to a landlord, and a lot of potential tenants can't afford all that. Essentially the landlords are choosing to cut out the middlemen and work directly with the tenant leaving them to decide who they rent to or not, and not the agent.
@pwarbi, isn't that extra cost worth the trouble it will save the landlord? Quite obviously this option won't work for a landlord who doesn't make much money from their rental property but someone who has a number of rental properties would find the services of letting agents valuable?
In the UK it's more regimented for background checks, which are costly and then references and then security deposits. Plus some agents have a fee just for letting from them. Even with all these checks it can go wrong. I had two tenants with excellent references, public schoolboys, executive jobs with their own PA etc, and they were a nightmare in real life. On paper they looked perfect, but in real life they trashed the place and admitted it, partied and upset the neighbors, damaged the property and didn't care (they did pay, but they had no respect). These days you can do your own reference checks, and if you are nearby then you can keep an eye on things. If not then an agent maybe better, but in my case my agents were useless (even though they were nearby). As a private landlord you can throw them out quicker, and make shorter month by month tenancies.
I just learned that condominiums are better off with an agent who is inside a rental agency because they have the connections and they can easily spread the news on the vacancy. Although some agents charge high but they say it is worth it because you need not worry about anything for they handle your property professionally. This reminds me of my nephew's condo unit in an upscale area that is vacant for more than a year now because he was handling the rental himself and it is difficult to find a tenant.
It's impossible for me not to observe a difference: in my country, most of the agents don't even know the adress of most of the apartments in their portfolio. This is why I rely on Facebook and rental properties or even booking.com when I need to rent a place for a few days. Why pay some extra money to a person that doesn't know more than me?
Do you mean to say those inept real estate agents are doing business in that lousy way? Over here, they will never prosper because agents here are well versed with their business that they treat it as a craft. Just mention the village and they would give you an overview of what it's like. Particularly apartments, even those in the nook and cranny of the city, agents would know and they would just say, in case they do not know, to give them a minute for they would call another agent who knows the place.
It does vary depending on what country you are in and also the laws. As for agents not knowing the address of properties it doesn't sound as if you live in a country with any regulated laws. Sometimes an agent is worth it if you are busy or not around as much, but if it's a long term let it can be worth advertising and seeing the response first and if that doesn't work out then use an agent.
