free advice from a slum lord.

catch a southwest flight from phoenix to virginia. spend 3 days getting the place rented.

due to the state of the economy, dont expect to see any applicants with good credit. charge $20 bucks (credit check) for every adult who will be an occupant and you should make back a good portion of your plane ticket. collect the $20 from every applicant whether or not you legitimately are considering them. my time is worth money. is yours?

target high income (if you have that luxury) and job stability. I just leased to a teacher this weekend (in california) with a foreclosure. she drives an immaculate 5 year old tacoma sport which is paid off (i saw the title). but she is not just a teacher, she is a special ed teacher. there has never been a special ed teacher laid off in california according to my sources... call the employer and verify employment and duration. employers are limited in what they can tell you, but they can tell you how long a person has been in their employ.

avoid a long term lease at all costs. month to month is the only way to go. interview them, be as sneaky as you can, and find out how much cash they have. write a lease with as high a deposit as they can stomach and structure the agreement to give some back (in the form of lower rent) in months 10, 11 and 12 if necessary. include escape clauses for yourself for that reduction in rent during those months (10, 11 and 12) if they are late on the rent twice during the first 9 months or whatever you thing that you can get away with. people are receiving tax returns right now. anyone with a job should have a few thousand dollars in the bank from uncle sam.

like you, i was stunned by the craigslist response. this unit rented the first day.

that means one thing. its time to raise the rent. :D

get your A$$ to virginia.

Tenants with stories, Never ends well.

Looking back, the bad ones always had stories.

The current tenants seemed excellent when I first met them. Dropped the deposit off on their way back from church, well dressed, husband had 790 FICO and had been at his job for 10 yrs. Wife worked at Disney in DC. Her credit wasn't great, but not terrible. He ended up losing his job, which is why they're moving to TX, where he found another one. Wife is now a stay-at-home mom with a new baby. They were always a few days late with rent, but never more than about five days. Two of the prospective tenants who've checked the place out recently have told me the place is in very good condition.

I need to get more interest in the place. The CL ad has peaks and valleys of interest. I have to go out there for business in a few weeks, but would like to have this sewn up before then.

large security deposit, put it in an interest bearing account, say, a CD that has a term that is as long as the lease. Give her reasonable interest on the dough if you give the deposit back

pure gold!!!!

+1

How is going to VA going to help if I don't have any prospective tenants lined up to meet? I need to get some more bites on my ad.

Well, things just got interesting with my current tenants. They say they're moving out a week from today and not paying rent for April, as the lease allows the tenant to terminate in the event of a job transfer. Yes, it does state that in the lease, however it requires the job transfer to be with the same employer listed on the lease application and requires a copy of the transfer order. I know the husband lost his job a few mos. ago and found a new one in Dallas. So this is not a transfer. However, where it gets sticky is that I think his previous job was with a company owned by a relative that went out of business. So he'd probably have no problem getting a transfer order forged on some old company letterhead.

I guess it could be worse, since I have their deposit and they're only skipping a month early. But I was hoping to keep things cordial, so they'd continue to help show the place for me. I told them they were on the hook until April 20 (per the lease), but that I'd refund them whatever portion of April was taken over by another tenant if I can get it rented soon.

First, I wouldn't be advertising on craigslist (flake city).

Second, I always ask for W-2 and tax forms.

Third, I always talk to the potential renter face to face... you can usually spot a flake that way.

Maybe it is because I live in So Cal and near the ocean, but I always have people lining up to rent my house so I can be pretty picky.

First renter was a gay paralegal, quite as a mouse, always paid on time, left the house looking cleaner than when he arrived.

Second was a Palestinian store owner, did all his own repairs, always paid in cash every month.

Third was two helicopter pilots, great guys, no problems (one of them died in the N.Y. crash several months ago :( )

Forth and current renter, School teacher with five year old daughter, always pays on time but a little high maintenance (complains about ants :rolleyes: and whenever the sink starts to drain slow)

YMMV

Last time I rented the place out, I didn't meet any flakes from CL. They all seemed like young, employed, responsible folks. The flakes are the ones who call and email and never show up to see the place. Where else to advertise if not on CL?

I can't help much, but I agree with the line about "Stories". You don't want to be the next story.

One of my buddies (Lt in the Fire Department), had another fire fighter who needed a place. He had stories. I was Landlord number 5 in 2 years. I had an apartment which wasn't finished and agreed to let him be there, no rent, if he'd help me fix it up.

He was no help. He had 2 big dogs, so I couldn't work on the house during my days off. He was PARANOID. Did I mention he had 2 big dogs and he was paranoid? He accused me of going into his place during the day and then he changed the locks, without telling me. This is a big no-no in NYS.

My eviction/termination notice crossed with his notice to the Electric Company on shared metering. Thank god mine was post marked BEFORE I received his, or there would have been hell. Well, worse hell. I lost the shared metering case and they charged me all of his electricty usage for 6 months and then tripled it as a fine.

He called shared metering because of a light bulb in the entrance area where his basement aparment was. He controlled the light switch and the entrace was for him only. There were water heaters for his all the units behind a wall in the entrance area.

He new girl friend (less than 2 months) was not happy that he was being evicted. I'm sure she thought I was the bad guy. I was PISSED at my buddy who connected us.

Fun being a landlord, eh?

First, sign up with ntnonline. 20$ credit check, 20$ background prison check. Some of the cost can be avoided by looking for your local circuit court access website. Typically states will let you search their court database for free. In Wisconsin, its super simple. I can pull up every speeding ticket/bankruptcy/divorce/judgement for free in 10 seconds. In Illinois, its painful.

Next, you have to meet the person. Car looks like crap? Done.

Dressed like crap or smell like cigarrettes? Done.

No job? Done.

Then, they have to fill out an application. Anyone that actually fills out every line is seriously considered (mosrt folks seem to think that most questions are optional....) Need employment for>1 year. Income 2.5x the rent. Please note, EVERYONE LIES. They lie about bankruptcies, etc.

One "tenant" came by with her disabled son. On disability, proof of income well above whats needed. My wife loved them. Simple credit check showed that they were evicted every 3 months for the last 2-3 years!!! Some poor schmuck almost certainly let them in.

If there is ANY KIND OF STORY...you are done. Don't have the entire security deposit? Sorry. Living at home and no previous landlords? Sorry. Self employed? Sorry (thats just a nice way of saying you are broke and judgement proof).

Verify previous landlords. They all lie. Landlords lie. Be aware.

You like them? Pass ntnonline? Now, go to their place of residence to drop off a lease. If the place is clean, go for it.

We screen 10 folks for everyone we accept. Thats $200 in screening costs alone. I have yet to meet a tenant willing to pay 20$ for a credit screening...

High price to pay? Not really. Its the cost of doing business...

PS. When I started this 10 years ago, I demanded a credit score over 720. Now a days, anything over 550 without a recent eveiction is considered. Every renters credit score is down the toilet... pretty useless criteria right now...

Goodluck!

Bo

I sent my tenants an email quoting relevant section of the lease and explaining why their move was not considered a job transfer. Before I got the wife's reply, I did some searching on Google and the couple's own blog. I found he had a totally different job since the one he put on his lease application. So I called them, asked for my tenant and the guy who answered was happy to tell me he no longer worked there and was taking a sales rep job at XX company in Dallas. Doesn't sound like a transfer to me.

Then I just got an email from Mrs. Tenant saying Mr. Tenant's company was absorbed my another company (total BS), but that she wasn't gonna fight me and would pay April's rent because they want their sec. deposit back. They are total Bible nuts, but I guess that doesn't mean they won't lie if they think they can get away with it.

Don't make it personal. Anytime you are paid late serve a 5 Day Pay or Vacate notice. You can get it free of the internet. After 5 days you can file for eviction...

PS. Anytime someone signs their application "God bless", or proclaims their "deep faith", run-away. More times than not, they are trying to get you to lower your guard.

Most religious folks don't leverage that aspect of their lives in order to get an apartment...

Run Forrest, Run...

He stole the words from me. Anytime someone starts telling you that they're a Christian in a business situation, cover your six-hole.

They've never once mentioned their religion in our conversations or emails other than saying something about not being home at a time I wanted them to show the place for me, as they were in church.

However, on their blog they talk a lot about their ward, their choir, praying, fasting, and on and on. Doesn't mean sheet to me. I know they've lied to me before and are lying now. I just want them to leave the place in good shape, show it for me and pay.

Great advice although my own car usually falls somewhere between neat-freak and slob. Just like my apt. :cool:

(Right in the middle is what I'm trying to say).

I nodded my head in agreement several times as I read the post from Bo in Wisconsin. You damn near need a sixth sense to be a good screener.

Things got a lot better after I started running credit checks.

RL, you're really sticking your neck out by not being in VA. You're basically hoping you don't get screwed.

This ain't a hobby. I'm renting the place because I can't sell it for what I need for it and VA is a deficiency clause state. Otherwise, I'd be tempted to walk away. But for only a $300 negative monthly cash flow, I'd rather deal with this a bit longer, keep my FICO high and maybe even build some equity.

I disagree- Having a screening fee is a good way to weed out the nut-jobs, because nobody wants to pay to be told "No."

I will not run an application through the screening company until it is filled completely, and the prospectiove tenant pays the screening fee up front.

In the case where I have multiple applications, and somebody passes screening but does not move in, I will refund their screening fee.

When somebody tells me they've got great credit/rental history, then disappears with the application promising to bring it back later, I usually never hear from them again, as they know I will find the truth.