Leasing Question - How to avoid being duped?

[Brandon Hall]

Hello BP. I am going to apologize for the length of this post in advance.

I am in the Washington DC metro area. As I am sure you are all well aware, rents here can be pretty expensive. I have been using Craigslist to search for rooms and roommates the past two weeks. I found a guy (we'll call him Dave) who is looking for roommates and just put in a lease application today. It is in an excellent location (in the heart of DC) and will reduce my daily commute time by approximately 1.5 hrs. The best part is, my cost will only be $950/mo, utilities included.

Does it sound too good to be true? I consider myself business savvy and find myself aware of many things involving business transactions that the average person would overlook. Dave is signing the lease with a friend of his. I asked if we could meet so that I too could sign. He said no need to sign anything and that we can meet this Saturday.

We would move in Feb. 1st. I will need to put down one month's rent as a security deposit and also pay for my first month's rent by Jan. 31. I asked him for the house's address because he had not yet provided it to me. Once I had that, I mapped it to verify that it was the same one he had sent me pictures of. I then threw it into Google and used Zillow and Trulia to find the listing agent. I called her and asked about the place. She said she had just received a rental application for it today (good!). I then confessed that I was doing due diligence to make sure a rental application had been submitted by these guys and I verified their first names which checked out.

She then called the guys, who then called me and apologized if they made me feel uncomfortable. They sound like really nice guys and they have found a killer deal right in the heart of the city. I am nervous, because being a student of business (and I am sure you would all agree) if something is too good to be true, it usually is.

The guys told me that I do not need to sign anything, which makes me nervous. I can be on a month-to-month basis, six-month, or year long agreement. The problem is that they don't seem intent on putting the agreement in writing. I think the reason for this is that they are also trying to rent out a bonus room lacking a closet and therefore not considered a "room."

What do you guys think? I don't think I am being duped as the realtor checked out. How can I protect myself? Try not to focus on the people themselves but rather the situation.

Thanks in advance.

-Brandon