outside the box rentals

[CCaDL]

In case anyone is interested, I thought I'd update this.
All of the rental houses I found on Zillow, Realtor, and Craigslist are being rented out by management companies. I did not find a single one being rented out by the homeowner, unless the homeowner IS a rental company.
Since I'm leaving my job behind, I was willing to pay for a year's rent upfront. However, the companies willing to accept that were unable to provide a website or enough info about their company, and those with whom I spoke were not intelligent or professional-sounding, as they were annoyed by the idea that I'd need to know anything about them.
CB properties, RJ properties, and Renshaw properties had no info about themselves...not even an address. While RJ does have an address, I googled it and found out that the address is a very old billiards hall. WHen I called, the woman who answered said their office is in the billiard hall. hmmm.

I applied to a property that MidSouth Best had listed, but I did not give my SS# when I applied, because I have frozen all of my credit accounts to avoid ID theft. So, I called AND emailed MidSouth Best to tell them they just need to let me know when they're going to run the check so I can unfreeze it for that day. They never contacted me, and their system bounced back my app as rejected, for lack of SS#. I called again, but never got a call back.

A property I found on CL interested me, but when I went to the website, it was one page only. The info on it was only the name of a man, a short list of rental requirements, and links to two other websites. When I went to those two other websites, the "info" was vague stuff about how great they treat their tenants and investors. The photos are all stock photos of models, who probably never even heard of the company. And the listings there did not even include the house I was interested in. They have no pictures of the properties, or only one thumbnail pic, and their link to "see location" goes nowhere.
It doesn't appear that these rental companies are well-organized.
And for most of them, I have to buy my own refrigerator and oven/stove range, which is ridiculous for one year of renting. One guy explained that they no longer provide those because people were taking them when they moved out. That just tells me they're not screening people properly. I had ALL kitchen appliances provided in my rental house, and it was never a concern that anyone would take them. In fact, in 11 years of renting out the house, no one took anything.

So, I got fed up with the lack of information and the lack of professionalism and made an offer to buy a house last Friday.
I know that isn't an option for everyone, but I can't recommend renting a house in Memphis, unless one is there to drive by and call "for rent" signs that are put up by homeowners instead of rental companies who have more properties than they can adequately manage.

[CristenS]

If you are looking at a rental that doesn't provide kitchen appliances, then you are looking at some very cheap rentals likely in bad areas. I've only seen that with rentals that are very low-end.


I've seen plenty of individual people renting houses on Zillow. Around Christmas is a bad time of year to look though, not a lot of people moving around this time.

[dc1538]

Originally Posted by CristenS

If you are looking at a rental that doesn't provide kitchen appliances, then you are looking at some very cheap rentals likely in bad areas. I've only seen that with rentals that are very low-end.


I've seen plenty of individual people renting houses on Zillow. Around Christmas is a bad time of year to look though, not a lot of people moving around this time.

It's uncommon in this area in general but may be gaining traction. A relative of mine stays in a decent neighborhood and they had to provide their own refrigerator and stove. Their rent is $1300 per month which is not cheap in Memphis.

It's a way to reduce maintenance cost and shift the responsibility to the tenant.

[eastmemphisguy]

Congrats on the house purchase, even if it wasn't you initially intended. I wish you all the best here.

[CCaDL]

Originally Posted by CristenS

If you are looking at a rental that doesn't provide kitchen appliances, then you are looking at some very cheap rentals likely in bad areas. I've only seen that with rentals that are very low-end.

I was trying to be flexible, so I had a broad range of $700/mo to $1600/mo. The ones at $1600 were no different in not having kitchen appliances, and that's not a price (for one person) that most would consider "very cheap", though you might.

I have checked with EVERY rental company that has a listing in that range in E. Memphis or Berclair or Colonial (that allows pets).
I listed some of them here already, but again, those I remember were Renshaw, CB properties, OCG, Willoughby, RJ properties, Brookfield, and Marathon. ALL of them told me they do not normally provide kitchen appliances, though there are occasions where there already may be an oven range, and fewer occasions where there may be a refrigerator.

If you believe that's wrong, I'm sure others reading this for rental info would love to see rentals that back up your claim that it's more common to provide a fridge.
I've already spent a month contacting rental agencies who told me they dont' provide it, so someone disputing it in a forum without info to back themselves up doesn't change anything I've been told.

I'm buying a house instead, so I'm out.
Thank you to those of you who took time to provide helpful and kind information.

[CristenS]

Sorry you had such a rough time. I do know a bit of what I am talking about, with the real estate business. I did not realize that a $1600 rental would come without appliances, that's a new one to me. A fridge I can understand, but a range or dishwasher seems odd. I wouldn't trust a renter to hook up a gas line. I'm glad it worked out for you in the end. Most property management companies in town have bad reps, which is why it's usually better to rent from an individual. But, nothing for you to worry about now!

Originally Posted by CCaDL

I was trying to be flexible, so I had a broad range of $700/mo to $1600/mo. The ones at $1600 were no different in not having kitchen appliances, and that's not a price (for one person) that most would consider "very cheap", though you might.

I have checked with EVERY rental company that has a listing in that range in E. Memphis or Berclair or Colonial (that allows pets).
I listed some of them here already, but again, those I remember were Renshaw, CB properties, OCG, Willoughby, RJ properties, Brookfield, and Marathon. ALL of them told me they do not normally provide kitchen appliances, though there are occasions where there already may be an oven range, and fewer occasions where there may be a refrigerator.

If you believe that's wrong, I'm sure others reading this for rental info would love to see rentals that back up your claim that it's more common to provide a fridge.
I've already spent a month contacting rental agencies who told me they dont' provide it, so someone disputing it in a forum without info to back themselves up doesn't change anything I've been told.

I'm buying a house instead, so I'm out.
Thank you to those of you who took time to provide helpful and kind information.