Is it risky to rent from a private owner? (Arlington: real estate, apartment complex)

[debernan]

Hi! My boyfriend and I are relocating to NoVa for work (my job is in Arlington) in late June-early July (our jobs start 7/6). We came down to the area a month ago and visited a bunch of apartment complexes in Alexandria - of course the ones we liked were either out of our price range or they did not have a 2 bedroom place available for our move-in time (we want to spend no more than 1600ish for a 2 bedroom - the 3 complexes we liked were Braddock Lee Apartments, Monticello-Lee, and Hunting Terrace). We are considering trying to rent a condo from a private owner, but we were wondering how risky that is? We are hoping to stay in the area for 5ish years, and we don't want to have to up and move yearly if the person who owns the condo wants to try and sell it after our lease ends. We're looking in the Fairlington/Shirlington area, and I guess I was just wondering what the odds are that we will rent something from a private owner and be able to stay there for 5 years? Has anyone else lived in such a place for that long? Are there other risks to consider? Are there questions we can ask or should ask about the situation (without seeming rude)?

Thanks!

[ChristineVA]

Many owners rent privately.

My father-in-law rented two townhomes for over 20 years on his own. When his job took him out of the country, my husband and I took over the management of it. What a pain. We finally convinced him to turn the property over to a realtor who would manage the lease, manage any new tenants, and check on the property regularly and recommend work that needed to be done as well as make sure the tenants weren't messing up the place. But that was all for our ease. I think that if an owner is renting to a tenant it is much more risky for the owner versus the tenant. As long as YOU have a signed lease, you are very well protected. The owner, not so much.
I would rent from a private owner in a heartbeat.

[oneasterisk]

Another thing to look for in the crazy foreclosure market is to make sure the owner is up to date on his mortgage. You could be on time with your rent, but if the owner is pocketing the money and not paying his mortgage then foreclosure steps could start.

I'm currently renting out a property to a family and they've stated they want to stay there for a number of years. I've acted quickly when they've called, but some landlords may not be as receptive to complaints.

Like ChristineVA mentioned, make sure you read the fine print on the lease. If it's not on the lease, then it's hard to enforce and that goes both ways.

oh and you might want to post in the Renting forum to get more exposure: https://www.city-data.com/forum/renting

[Bass101]

We have rented from two different private owners over the last 4 years. One in DC and one in NoVa. Both were good experiences. One unit was found through Craig's List, and the other unit was found through a realtor who does private rentals in our preferred suburbs. We saw a couple of rentals with this realtor, and decided on this one.

I would have no worries about it as long as you sign a standard lease. In fact, I would say we had much better rental experiences from private owners than we did with the large apartment complexes that we rented from for years before we moved to this area. The benefits of renting from a private owner are less hassle--you don't have to worry about the apartment complex maintenance staff coming into your unit to do routine maintenance--either announced or unnanounced. With a private owner, they leave you completely alone unless you notice a maintenance problem, and then they have you schedule it to be fixed at your convenience. I used to despise the fact that when we lived in a big apartment complex I'd come home and find a note on the door that maintenance came to change the filters or something, and I didn't get any notice and they had been in my unit. You don't have any of those issues with a private owner, because they aren't ever coming into your unit. That's a huge plus in my opinion.

Another plus is that it's less likely the private owner will raise your rent from year to year. We're currently renting with a private owner, and they have not raised our rent in 3 years! That wasn't the case with all of our large apartment buildings. Additionally, another benefit may be that you can paint your unit or do other customizable things (though we never pursued this) more easily than with the big apartment buildings.

Yes, the person could sell the condo, and that was always a small concern with us. However, when we were looking at the place we let them know we would likely be here for at least 3 years, and we wanted to know if there were any plans to sell. They assured us no, which has been the case. So I would just come out and ask. The owners prefer to stick with the same good tenants and not have to keep finding new people, so they will probably welcome you asking this question. The other thing we did was that we renewed our lease a few months early every year, so that if they did decide to sell, we'd have a few extra months lead time to look for a new place.

I enthusiastically recommend renting with a private owner over an apartment building. I definitely prefer it!

[CaliTerp07]

We've been very happy renting from a private owner. When we signed the lease, they asked how many years we'd like to sign for--1, 2, or 3. (We only did 1, as we aren't sure how long we'll be here). It provided reassurance that they aren't going to sell the house out from under us though.

[HokieFan]

We rent from a private-owner and have been very happy. We signed a 1 year lease and at the end of the lease agreement, we negotiated with the owner so that we can now vacate at anytime as long as we give 60 days notice (and vice versa). This is to our benefit so that we can start house hunting soon.

We found our condo on realtor.com and worked with the owner's real estate agent who made it easy for us. The only negative to renting from a private owner is that they usually require a security deposit that matches the first month's rent. Whereas, an apartment complex may only require a few hundred dollars. But one of the positives is that our landlord is very quick to fix any issues we may have with the place because it is in his best interest to keep his investment in tip-top shape. I would think that a management company or apartment complex would not care as much.

But check realtor.com and key in your search criteria (such as price range, zip code, etc.)

[GoHokiesGo]

I'd think that you would be a private owners dream if you walked in and wanted a 5-yr lease; Most owners fear having their property vacant and having to cover 2-mortgages, so they'd love knowing that you were intending to keep a long-term lease. Like most people have said, the risk is more with the owner than the tenant in renting out their property.

I'd make sure everything in your lease is to your liking and protects you as the tenant, but other than that, you'll probably have less trouble and a more receptive landlord if you rent from a private owner.

[EuroExpat]

We rent privately and have been for 3 1/2 years no. No problems whatsoever, our landlord is nice and flexible. We treat the house like it was ours so that might help. We keep renewing our lease, not necessarily wanting to buy a house and have all the extra expenses.

[debernan]

Thanks for all the positive feedback! It makes me feel a little better knowing that other people have had good experiences! Hopefully we are able to find something we like

[TechlawyerinPG]

I rent a condo out and I think the benefits are that I allow two pets, am not not strict about credit scores but look at the total picture and allow more creative lease terms than a normal landlord. I have anew tenant moving here to be a school teacher who can't pay rent for a couple of months until their first paycheck in September. That was the only way her and her child were able to move here as no commercial landlord would allow such an arrangement. I've also known people that are handy get a lower rent lease from a private owner in exchange for repairs or bartering other skills in exchange. Be careful with foreclosures though, I had a couple of potential tenants say they had to move because of this.