I help people to buy houses and sell houses all day long.  When it comes to helping people find a property to lease, it's harder for me to help, for these reasons....

• Distributed Information:  Unlike many larger cities, Harrisonburg does not have a centralized database of rental properties.  To find out about available rentals, you really need to check with each property management company in town (or on their web site), and check Craigslist, and check the Daily News Record, and drive around looking for signs.  Ugh.  With information so widely distributed, it's hard for me to provide a concise overview to potential tenants about which properties are available that might suit their needs.  Here is my one attempt at giving at least some quick links to many of the sources.
   
  
• Distributed Access:  If we find some potential rental properties, I can't even get you into the properties.  In most cases, it will require separate coordination with the owner or property manager of each potential property.
   
  
• Contracts:  Owners of rental properties and property management companies in this area each have their own lease documents that they prefer to use.  Even if I helped you sift through the available properties, and somehow arranged for access to the properties, I wouldn't then be able to represent you in writing an offer to lease a property because the property owner or property management company would insist that they prepare it on their own forms.
   
  
• Compensation:  Even if I helped you find a property, somehow arranged for access, guided you through the paperwork process (with the landlord's lease documents) -- property owners and property managers in this town are not accustomed to paying Realtors for having assisted tenants in securing a rental property.

If you are looking for a rental property, I would love to help you find a place to live -- but I won't be able to be much help based on how things currently work in the Harrisonburg area.

Fellow Realtors -- tell me I'm wrong!  Do you approach this any differently than I do? 

Local Innovators -- fix this problem!  Create a solution to make it easier for tenants to obtain rental housing in this area!