Rental advice (lease, tenant, renters, deposit)

[okaydorothy]

Hi there,
I bet you are fed up of my questions. Anyway, as it is a bad market here in NY to sell, we are going to probably end up renting our house again. The previous tenants trashed it and so for the next month or so, we will be working big time on it.

Anyway, last night a business friend of mine called to ask if I would consider renting the house to his daughter, her boyfriend and their baby. He has a good job (railroad) and is supposidely very neat etc. The house is a little big (1250sq ft) (4bed,2bath) for what they want, and they are willing to pay $200 less than the previous tenants.

My logic is ; we know this person for at least 10 years, have a very good business relationship with him. And if it is better to drop the rent a little but have the place taken well care of it is a decent deal. Also its better than what we are getting now which is nothing.
My dh thinks ; why should we pour so much money into it and then take a drop in rent? The previous tenants trashed it so bad that it is unable to be rented now.

any advice?
d

[Racelady88]

Unless you have made surprise visits to the current home of the prospective renters you have no basis for assuming that they will take better care of your house than the previous renters. Your business relationship with the father has nothing whatsoever to do with how his daughter, her boyfriend, and their child will care for your house.

I might consider lowering the rent, but I would most definitely be asking for a larger deposit.

[Paula Lynn]

My advise? Don't rent to people you know.

[CouponJack]

Wow, you are caught in the middle on this one. If its me, I take my chances and let them rent just because of the business relationship. Although, as evey said, maybe ask for a little more deposit.

You need to tread lightly w/this one...good luck

[palmcoasting]

I wouldn't consider renting to anyone without a full background and credit check on anyone that is going to be on the lease. And I would make sure both the daughter and the 'boyfriend' are on the lease.

[okaydorothy]

oh yes, and if I can I would get the parents on the lease also. The more, the better.

Thanks for all your advice. I take it all seriously.

dorothy

[JayCT]

Will the lower rent cover all of the expenses for the property? If they are qualified both financially and credit wise, I would consider it, especially if you know they are good people. I have found it so hard to find good tenants off the street (though craigslist worked well for me) and sometimes a young couple just starting out works out well. They want to establish themselves and building a good history with the landlord can help. Jay

[okaydorothy]

There is no mortgage on the property and taxes are about $6500 per year. So yes the rent would defiantely cover the costs.

I used craigslist also for another property and found a wonderful tenant. Too bad, she moved out after 18 months to a smaller cheaper apt up the street.
Thanks
d

[KristinWard]

That's a hard one. You shouldn't skip over the tenant screening even if you know them. Especially since its the daughter and boyfriend and I assume they are both pretty young. If there are issues have you rent to them it would be a lot worse then refusing to rent to the for 200 less.

I would say if they both show up fine in a eviction, criminal and credit check from a company. I would make sure to get the parents on the lease as well though.

[STT Resident]

Kristinward: You should pay attention to the dates on the threads. You're dragging up VERY old and long dormant ones.