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It is simply my observation that single roommates under 25 don't seem well suited to a SFH....
* Familial status (including children under the age of 18 living with parents; or legal custodians; pregnant women and people securing custody of children under 18)
Do I even need to point out why these two lines are quoted?
Who is complaining....just an observation of what landlords see. We have a commitment to our investment and the neighborhood, too.
To be competitive on the rent, rolling the cost into the monthly rent for lawn service at $100 per month puts the house in a negative position. But a thought! I might actually add a lease clause that after the second warning about not mowing the lawn, rent increase $100/month and LL engages a lawn service. Thanks for the input, I like this concept!
Extended leases only benefit tenants. It protects them from landlords finding "better" tenants or selling the house and new owners being able to end the lease with only 30 days notice. Extended leases guarantee no raise in rent for the lease period!
If that's legal, sure, go ahead. I'd pay more for a SFH rental where I didn't have to cut the grass, or I'd likely hire it done myself and pocket the difference since I'm sure a LL would put a premium on the monthly rent for "providing" the service. I cut the grass at the house I owned prior to this one, but it was a tiny yard and it was in a different country where it doesn't get NEARLY as hot! Here in Texas...nope! I'd rather pay someone $30 to do a much better job than I would.
Also, remember that you don't actually have to cut the grass year-round. You don't even have to do it every week all year-round. You can cut it down to twice a month part of the fall and spring. So it's not a straight extra $100 per month; you need to balance it out over 12 months.
Actually, some of my ugliest move outs have been when a married couple splits up. Or domestic violence occurs. And at least younger people are less likely to die while renting from you, which opens up another entire set of issues (I'm at 2 so far on that count, and think I'm going to have another later this year).
In my experience, renting to 2 unrelated roommates is usually fine. The more roommates you get after that, the more headache you are likely to have. At 3, it can get ugly. I've never seen a 4+ roommate situation end well, outside of college dorms.
As a side note, the OP has had 75 INQUIRIES, not 75 applications. We don't know if he has any applications at all. Inquiries are nothing. I get 20 or 30 inquiries for every viable applicant, at least. "Can we have 6 dogs?" "Do you allow smoking?" "Where is the house located?" "When is the house available?" and so on, all of which are answered in the ad. People are dumb, and you can eliminate at least 75% of inquiries in the first 30 seconds.
To the OP, vacancies are part of life, when it comes to rentals. If you don't want them, don't be in the rental business. They happen. You can pick the very best, most stable (on paper) applicant, who swears up and down that they are going to stay for 10 years, and they get a job offer a year later and move out. Or you rent to a family, and they get divorced. We rented to one couple who had been together so long their credit reports were identical. One month after moving in, they broke up and had to break the lease. We rented to a mother/adult daughter, who said they wanted to stay for at least 5 years. 4 months later, the mom moved out in the middle of the night and left the daughter to pay the rent. On the other hand, we rented to a single mother in her 20s with 3 kids and she lived in the house for 15 years. We took a chance and rented to a felon straight out of doing time for drug charges, and 10 years later, she is married with 2 kids, and just moved out of our rental for a job offer in another state last month, and I was sorry to see her go. Life isn't predictable.
Finally, for the discussion about age discrimination, I'm pretty sure that is a state protection in some states, not a federal one. I looked and the OP appears to be in Texas and Texas doesn't appear to have any other protected classes beyond the federal list.
Finally, for the discussion about age discrimination, I'm pretty sure that is a state protection in some states, not a federal one. I looked and the OP appears to be in Texas and Texas doesn't appear to have any other protected classes beyond the federal list.
Well, single young women with children would fall under "familial status." But, you're right, my experience has been in CA and I was thinking in terms of CA law, which includes age discrimination:
If you're renting or looking for an apartment in California, you're covered by the Fair Housing Act (FHA), a federal law, which protects tenants and prospective tenants alike from illegal housing discrimination based on the following protected classes:
this property is in TX. The 22 year old single mom is being put aside just like my other single folks in their early 20's.
So, we have set appointments for 6 parties to come thru of the now 90+ responses. No one has completed apps yet; we only give an application after they see the property and we personally meet. Appointments are made in order of date of initial inquiry.
(my process......advertise...receive inquiries...respond to each vai email giving more detail about the property and our requirements and ask to return email with some basic info (at this point 90% don't respond, we have lots of rules about pets, number of vehicles, credit requirements, etc.)... set up appointments.
Of 6 appointments, usually 2-3 are no shows and some don't always want the place, and often there are lies on the application when I start checking work and rental histories, or when I run the criminal and credit reports.
So, then I move to the next 6.
First rounds:
Here's who is coming (in order of inquiry) (btw, I think one couple is white, #2 & #4 are AA, and the balance are Hispanic I am in TX and do follow Fed Fair Housing laws)
The OP isn't in CA so I'm not sure what the point is of cutting and pasting a bunch of CA statutes.
So, why not just post the Texas Fair Housing Act.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Squirl
I am in TX and do follow Fed Fair Housing laws
Each state can add additional protections or extend proptection, or eliminate exemptions of the federal Fair Housing Act within their own state laws. It's not good enough to follow only the federal law when a state enacted a state law. You need to follow both! Heres what you need to read and follow: PROPERTY CODE CHAPTER 301. TEXAS FAIR HOUSING ACT
The reason you aren't getting older renters calling is because they probably own their own homes already.
The younger folks that are calling are likely go-getters. They already 'graduated' out of apartment living. They probably have good careers and likely handle their money well. Most likely they will buy a home in a few years, because it's obvious that they want to live in a home instead of an apartment.
With this type of renter, you'll likely have on-time rent every month. Because they are saving for a home and their credit rating is important to them. And because they like homes over apartments, they are thrilled to mow lawns. Why? Because they are young and full of energy and they are glad to be outside in the yard, even if mowing.
If they were lazy and didn't want to upkeep a lawn, then these folks would choose apartment life.
I bought my first home when I was in my early 20s and single. Some people mature in life earlier than others.
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