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I'm renting out a 2br in a 4 plex for $525. It's newly rennovated. As a landlord, how do you figure what a good deposit amount should be? I see anywhere from no deposit all the way to a full month's deposit.
Seems like the higher you make it the harder time you will have finding someone who can come up with such a big chunk of cash. On the other hand carpet cleaning, unit cleaning, blinds, etc. could add up fast. Everything is brand new.
1 moneths rent
PLUS deposit equal to 1 moneths rent
PLUS a pet FEE/ I charge a $200.00 pet fee thats NON REFUNDABLE.. they only have the right to have a pet there id they pay the fee.. it does NOT cover pet damages period
SO stop feeling bad for the "poor tenants" they want the place bad enough they can and will come up with the full amount of Rent, deposit and pet fee befor move in .. and they dont get to move in if I dont have that money in hand .. GOOD tenants are able to do that and thats what you want is a good tenant.. The lets make a deal crowd will 99% of the time rip you off over for pet fees and the critter damages the place anyways .. same for the deposit..
Get your money up front and dont fall for the sob stories
$1250 for a decent place to rent is affordable to good renters ..
It's not uncommon to ask for first month's rent, last month's rent and one month's security deposit for a total of three months upfront. Business is business!
Look up your state law to see if there is a maximum.
We charge about a month's rent for deposit with pet deposit on top of that.
Yes, a larger deposit will filter out some tenants, but the ones that get filtered out are living too close to the bone, and are more likely to not have rent because of sob story A, B or C.
Very important to know what is permitted by law... don't want to get yourself in trouble for something that is avoidable.
My State does not recognize any fee, deposit, etc that is not refundable... other than the statutory amount permissible to collect for running an application...
That said... you are free to charge any permitted amount. I find the custom varies from area to area... some places charge 1.5 times the monthly rent because it often takes more than a month to evict for non-payment...
Avoid anyone that doesn't have the required deposit/move-in rent upfront... and make sure to collect all money due no later than when the key is given...
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