Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
My biz partner and I own a duplex and I live on one side. We have fixed up the other side and are ready to rent it out. We don't live in the best neighborhood (or the worst) but it's a nicely remodeled place with a good-sized, newly landscaped back yard. It's a two-bedroom, one-bath home of 850 square feet. It's priced appropriately for the neighborhood, size and condition.
The family that has applied to live there has a few issues, so I'm throwing it out there for some advice.
- Five people would live there, including three boys (1-10 years old) who would share one bedroom.
- They have one salary, equal to about 3x monthly rent. They would pay all bills except water and trash.
- The breadwinner has a short history with his current employer (two months).
- They moved out of a prior rental without paying the last month's rent. It went to collections and they eventually paid it.
- They have paid their current LL the rent a day late usually, but last month were 5 days late.
- They apparently do not intend to give 30 days' notice to their current landlord, as required by their lease. (When I checked their LL reference, she also was worried that they will not come up with the last month's rent.)
- The mom either lied or misled me about the LL allowing them to leave at any time so she could do some remodeling.
I still need to do reference and background checks, but I'm thinking there are already a couple of red flags. So please let me know what y'all think. Thanks.
A "couple" of red flags? The fact that you are considering renting to them makes me wonder who exactly you wouldn't rent to from a financial perspective.
A "couple" of red flags? The fact that you are considering renting to them makes me wonder who exactly you wouldn't rent to from a financial perspective.
I agree, manderly.
A "couple red flags" . . . I can count at least six and would be running in the opposite direction.
Location: When you take flak it means you are on target
7,646 posts, read 9,944,809 times
Reputation: 16466
NO. This is trouble. It will cost you 5 months rent to evict plus damages from 5 people in a house designed for 2 or 3. And the pit bull is probably in a box hiding somewhere...
An empty apartment is better than a wrecked one that costs you a years lost income.
Find a tenant who has 1 child, been on the job for a year, earns 3-4X rent, hasn't stiffed their last two LL's, and doesn't overtly lie to you.
I can't beleive you wrote all that out and are still thinking about renting to them.
Listen to your intuition, it is telling you that these people are going to be trouble. Spare yourself the hassle, find more reliable tenants. They do exist!
My biz partner and I...
So please let me know what y'all think. Thanks.
I think you need to sell.
In the alternative...
you need to join a LL association and find some grizzled old veteran to coach you. Find these two along with a good LL lawyer and from them all to learn about a hundred large and small things that will still ultimately cost you more than what you might lose by just selling out now.
I rented to a family that might have been less than desirable to some landlords and they have turned out to be great. However I never would have rented to anyone who was consistently late on rent or whose rent had to go to collections. That's not even a red flag, it's an automatic no!
Yeah, there's a big difference between renting to someone with say, a prior bankruptcy due to medical bills or some event beyond their control, and the fine folks in the scenario above.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
