Finding renters and marketing a house... (Laurel: for sale, credit check, how much)

[trying2moveup]

Have a home in Laurel (PG side) and looking into the future, may want to put up for rent in the spring of 2011. Would build cost of a mgmt company into the total rent. Rent would be above market. Therefore it may not ever get rented out. I realize this. However, can walk to MARC from this home; is less than 2 miles from I-95 and close to the B/W parkway as well. Many good private schools in the area. Home public school is not spectacular, but not a bad performing either. Hoping features such as these may generate interest.

Within 5 miles from Ft. Meade/NSA and I'm hoping BRAC is going to kick into high gear in January as I've heard it is supposed to do....

Have never rented out a house before - any tips on how to go about marketing this? I do not want to use a Realtor b/c I will have no control in placing a tenant.

Those of you experienced -

1) anyone in the military that can advise me how I can put this out there for military personnel to access?

2) same for any NSA personnel - do you have any sort of placement housing office there - I know hush, hush...;-)

3) Any landlords out there that have MUST DO REQUIREMENTS for screening the tenant. Credit checks, references, etc. Does anyone have methods they've used which have really helped them because I know 99% of the battle is putting the right tenant in the property from the beginning...

4) any other words of advice (besides 'don't do it') out there.


Thanks in advance for your replies.

[Jadedea Jade]

ive been renting all of my life, i can give you some tips that could make you more desireable to renters. but first, as a veteran i do know of one site that i can give you, however i think you need to actually get with someone in order to access it: Automated Housing Referral Network (AHRN.com) v7.0

now if your expecting your future renters to pay for utilities it would be nice if you could list an approx amount of how much it will cost monthly. like if you know that during the winter you spend $25 for gas and $100 for electricity then, if possible, list that with your description (i think if your posting for military folks you have to list this, but it may have been a state/country requirement). during the contract phase, if you have special requirements for the home add it in there. at one point i had rented an old home, built in the 20s i believe. they had a poorly built basement and over the summer had molded over. after about 2 weeks of phone tag i was able to contact the owner. they told me there has to be a dehumidifier in the basement running at all times to prevent molding. of course that didnt help as it destroyed half my stuff and i couldnt get reimbursed. if they told me during the contract phase i could of planned accordingly. list the companies available to the renters to sign up for, for electric, gas, etc. the place i rent now did not and i had to find out the hard way who i could sign up for. im not from here, so i didnt know any names or numbers. previous places ive rented have told me utility companies in area i could sign up for plus their recommendations.

if youll take dogs, you should take cats. dogs in my experiences can cause more damage than cats. i find it odd that places will take dogs over cats especially when the majority of cat owners keep their cats inside. if your worried about it ask some basic questions (i.e. does your cat have suitable scratching surfaces, does it like to scratch carpet, sisal or wooden surfaces).

if the renters are new in town providing a basic welcome package would be nice, maybe the realty company you rent through may provide it, but from my point of view, thats one less thing to worry about as a renter.

personally if you have carpet in your house i would remove it. only because wear and tear from different families will completely destroy it anyways. the place im renting has wall to wall flooring with carpet in the basement. quick and easy to clean!

can you tell us about your place? how many floors, does it have wall 2 wall carpeting, number of beds and baths and how close to amenities?

hope this helps. ill post more if i come up with anything else.

[serrendipity]

Were military. I think Jade had sound advice with the AHRN site. You could also contact the housing office on the installation or base. Include a quality picture, approx sq. footage. You could also list on craigslist for free. I know the site military for salebyowner.com or something like that is for selling and sometimes renting.

Make sure you have a quality checkin sheet which you and your tenant will sign both at check in and check out. Be aware that with orders over a certain time frame a military member can break a lease so do your homework and prepare for that just in case. They must present you the proper paperwork to do that.

As to the animals a pet deposit is customary. This is seperate from the rental deposit, be sure to mention in the contract whether it is refundable.

As to interviewing tenants. Well I had a landlording book I got from amazon and used that contract. References are required, a W-2. Front and back of their ID's and drivers licenses for all adult tenants. Credit check is essential that will weed out most of them there. Theres a site for that on the net can't remember the name. It was like $15 which I charged per application non refundable. And then go from there. Good luck to you.

[trying2moveup]

Thank you both very much for the replies - excellent information, especially about the AHRN site.

Also, Serrendipity - if you remember the book title and you feel it worked well for you, please pass it along to me (credit check site also - there are millions out there but if a $15 check works as well as a $50 one, that's bonus).