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I have a single family house for lease. Posted yesterday evening, have over 60 inquiries in less than 20 hours. Our tight rental market causes me, as a landlord, lots of angst when I have a place for lease because I have a strong desire to be even-handed with all who inquire. I have pretty stringent requirements regarding income-to-rent ratio, credit scores, etc. etc. So, typically I make appointments with the 3-5 first who meet my qualifications. And usually they all want the place and the best qualified gets a lease. Out of 60 inquiries so far only 3 meet qualifications of the 8 who responded back from my initial email detailing qualifications. The other 5 responded asking for me to "work with them." I am still geting inquiries at the daytime rate of about 4 an hour, so not firmly identifying my appointments yet. But I want to be fair.
One of the 3 wrote that she moved to an apartment last summer with her teen son (escaping an abusive marriage) and now hopes to lease this house. Her alleged income meets our guidelines. I am reluctant to consider a working parent with a teenager beause I am concerned about what will be going on in the house after school while the parent works. I was a working parent and my teen caused many problems having friends over while I was at work. Also, when I was in middle school I had a friend whose parents both worked and they had many parties after school where some very wild stuff happened. Lots of smoking in the house and even a rape. Different time, different people.
I have never leased a house to a family where a teen will be alone in the house after school. Just wondering if anyone here has a good or bad landlord experience with this situation.
If you're not sure that you want to rent to that person, it seems you have a lot more options to choose from. I see no reason to go with one that might give you heartburn.
Single family house. Who is responsible for the lawn/exterior care?
Don't expect the teen to do it. Will mom assume responsibility ?
Teens have friends- expect many cars in the driveway when he is entertaining friends. Expect parties. He may have a girlfriend / boyfriend move in without telling you. Then again he may move out on his own soon but don't bet on it.
You already have reservations about the situation so it might be best to let this prospective tenant glide on by.
I think you have to meet them and go with your gut. While teens can be wild, this generation seems far more serene and settled than others. I have a 17 year old who has never thrown parties, is very respectful and considerate as is my 14 yo. We left the 17yo for a week out of the country in spring break. While the house wasn't as neat as I would have liked upon return, it took about 15 minutes to get it there.
Another factor is they likely have been thru a lot if she is leaving an abusive relationship. That teen may be more mature than many adults.
I have a single family house for lease.
Posted yesterday evening, have over 60 inquiries in less than 20 hours.
Out of 60 inquiries so far only 3 meet qualifications ...
This 3:60 ratio implies that either you have really weak advertising (text/images/placement)...
or you're asking for too much in rent for that neighborhood --even in a tight market.
Quote:
...of the 8 (out of 60) who responded back from my initial email detailing qualifications.
More detail of your expected qualification in the advertising is probably called for as well.
Less wheel spinning and wasting of your time.
How long have the last few tenants remained in place?
High turnovers are often about too high rent.
Last edited by MrRational; 05-16-2017 at 05:13 AM..
This 3:60 ratio implies that either you have really weak advertising (text/images/placement)...
or you're asking for too much in rent for that neighborhood --even in a tight market.
More detail of your expected qualification in the advertising is probably called for as well.
Less wheel spinning and wasting of your time.
How long have the last few tenants remained in place?
High turnovers are often about too high rent.
Question was about unsupervised teens in the house. Thanks, I am not needing guidance on other areas at this time.
Question was about unsupervised teens in the house.
I beg to differ.
The Q you have is about the dearth of "qualified" applicants you're getting
which is forcing you to even consider allowing a "teen left alone" scenario...
regardless of other qualifications.
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