Welcome to City-Data.com Forum!
U.S. CitiesCity-Data Forum Index
Go Back   City-Data Forum > U.S. Forums > Virginia > Northern Virginia
 [Register]
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
View detailed profile (Advanced) or search
site with Google Custom Search

Search Forums  (Advanced)
Reply Start New Thread
 
Old 08-14-2011, 08:45 AM
 
186 posts, read 487,236 times
Reputation: 113

Advertisements

We recently rented and each time we were intrested in a property we had to fill out an application with SS # and pay a fee for each persons over 18 years old who would be living in the house .

The fees ranged from $25-$50 /pp . If we did not get the property we did not get the fees back.

We worked thru a real estate agent and was told this was standard procedure. It did not matter what our jobs, salarys or security clearances were !

We applied for 4 places and were turned down for 3 got the 4th . It was a costly process
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message

 
Old 08-14-2011, 10:13 AM
 
32 posts, read 111,390 times
Reputation: 42
We've been a landlord for a while, and currently charging $20 per person for the credit check. SSN and DOB info is required for running the credit check. Our application process is first come first serve. We review the applications and run the credit check in the order that it was submitted, and don't cash the application/credit fee check until we get to a particular application. So once an applicant is offered the rental, we void/shred the checks of the later applicants. I don't think it's fair to take people's money if they money won't be used for pulling their credit.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 08-14-2011, 03:27 PM
 
1,256 posts, read 4,187,738 times
Reputation: 791
Quote:
Originally Posted by FishSauce View Post
We've been a landlord for a while, and currently charging $20 per person for the credit check.
To take this thread a LITTLE off-topic, how do you get permission to run someone else's credit check and how do you do it?

I'm simply curious - at one time I was a "landlord", too, however didn't do anything other than signature signing of paperwork - I had a real estate agent as a property manager who handled tenant review, etc.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 08-14-2011, 03:49 PM
 
Location: Northern Virginia
4,489 posts, read 10,922,714 times
Reputation: 3698
Okay, I'll be the odd man out--that screams "scam" to me.

There are enough places for rent on CL that I wouldn't give my info to anyone I wasn't 100% secure about.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 08-14-2011, 04:11 PM
 
32 posts, read 111,390 times
Reputation: 42
The application explicitly states that by turning in the signed application along with the fee they are allowing the landlord to perform credit and employment check. As for credit reports, there are numerous online sites that gives real-time credit report on anyone as long as you have their SSN and DOB. Those service usually require a onsite/home inspection or interview to set up an account.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 08-14-2011, 05:18 PM
 
Location: Richmond va
1,570 posts, read 4,608,179 times
Reputation: 671
That is 100 percent a scam
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 08-14-2011, 05:45 PM
 
Location: New-Dentist Colony
5,759 posts, read 10,695,803 times
Reputation: 3952
I don't think it's a scam. The grammar and punctuation are too good. That doesn't make it impossible, of course--but I think it's a lot less likely. That and the fact that they say "no pets." If it's a scam, then it wouldn't make sense to limit the number of potential "marks" by saying that.

Why not e-mail the owners with a brief, reassuring snippet about yourself and ask for their phone number, to find out more about them? If they themselves have stable employment and are verifiable, then it's probably fine. If they are skittish about talking on the phone or telling you anything about themselves, that's a red flag.

I think a phone call is a quick and no-cost way for both parties to gut-check each other.

The one hinky thing about this ad, which my wife just noticed over my shoulder: 1300/month for a 3BR? Sounds almost too good to be true.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 08-14-2011, 05:49 PM
 
Location: Richmond va
1,570 posts, read 4,608,179 times
Reputation: 671
Quote:
Originally Posted by Carlingtonian View Post
I don't think it's a scam. The grammar and punctuation are too good. That doesn't make it impossible, of course--but I think it's a lot less likely.

Why not e-mail the owners or talk with them on the phone and find out more about them? If they themselves have stable employment and are verifiable, then it's probably fine. If they are skittish about talking on the phone or telling you anything about themselves, that's a red flag.

I think a phone call is a quick and no-cost way for both parties to gut-check each other.
Are you kidding me? They dont even have a phone number listed.. No phone number, no address listed for an open house? The price is way too cheap it is barely enough to cover a one bedroom apartment in this area. Why would they even advertise a one hour open house for applicants? This is just all a bit strange to me.. No no.. I would stay far away from this ad. Scammers have gotten smarter than they use to be.. it use to be a lot easier to tell a scam ad but this is just way too good to be true.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 08-14-2011, 05:51 PM
 
Location: New-Dentist Colony
5,759 posts, read 10,695,803 times
Reputation: 3952
Quote:
Originally Posted by Teebyrd86 View Post
Are you kidding me? They dont even have a phone number listed.. No phone number, no address listed for an open house? The price is way too cheap it is barely enough to cover a one bedroom apartment in this area. Why would they even advertise a one hour open house for applicants? This is just all a bit strange to me.. No no.. I would stay far away from this ad. Scammers have gotten smarter than they use to be.. it use to be a lot easier to tell a scam ad but this is just way too good to be true.
You can e-mail the anonymized address to ask for the phone number. And the address. I wouldn't list my address on Craigslist.

Re. the open housee: It's a little weird for a rental, true. Maybe they don't want to have to coordinate with umpteen different parties. But I'd think it would make it super awkward to have multiple competing would-be renters there at the same time.

But the price--yeah, that to me is the one definitely worrisome thing. Then again, it could be the kitchen is old, the bedrooms are small, it's on a noisy street, etc.

I still say it's worth investigating, with caution. (If it's on the level, then the owners are probably old and not savvy as to what makes a good CL ad--e.g., phone number, photos, a first name, etc.)

Last edited by Carlingtonian; 08-14-2011 at 06:00 PM..
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 08-14-2011, 07:55 PM
 
32 posts, read 111,390 times
Reputation: 42
Advertising an open house for a rental is nothing new for us. It's much easier than driving out to show the house up to 10 times a week. The open house is usually for 3-4 hrs and anyone can come by to walk through during that time. There's no awkwardness that I can sense from multiple concurrent visitors...same as an open house for a home sale. We do not put our phone number on the CL listing, but usually give it out after an interested party responds to the listing.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.

Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.


Reply
Please update this thread with any new information or opinions. This open thread is still read by thousands of people, so we encourage all additional points of view.

Quick Reply
Message:


Settings
X
Data:
Loading data...
Based on 2000-2020 data
Loading data...

123
Hide US histogram

Over $104,000 in prizes was already given out to active posters on our forum and additional giveaways are planned!

Go Back   City-Data Forum > U.S. Forums > Virginia > Northern Virginia
Similar Threads

All times are GMT -6. The time now is 09:34 AM.

© 2005-2024, Advameg, Inc. · Please obey Forum Rules · Terms of Use and Privacy Policy · Bug Bounty

City-Data.com - Contact Us - Archive 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37 - Top