New possible tenant

[Tom Kilburn]

Hi everyone! I purchased my first rental. 2 bdrm in a small town. Interesting call today from a potential tenant: she lives in Canada and has almost 2 yrs left in her contract and then will be moving back to this area. She comes to this area once a month to see her fiancée for 4 days. He lives in another nearby small town 20 min away where he handles the night shift taking care of his mother. He doesn't own a car and when we meet he will be driving his mother's beat up old car. (?that threw up a flag) She has made all the normal inquiries and wants to know if she can pay the first year upfront as apparently the Banks in Canada charge her every time she makes a transaction? She justifies renting the house as opposed to paying for a hotel room in a bigger town that would be almost an hour away for the fiancé. Says she has had a mortgage on a house in Canada for 20 years and is willing to provide contact info for them and utility companies. Also willing to pay cash or money order. 1). Can you vet someone from Canada and 2)doesn't this sound too convenient for the landlord(me)? Any scams similar to this? Trying to think of every angle here....lots of flags going up here...just not sure. Thank you for any input!

[Christy Harris]

Are there not any rentals in the town where her fiance lives? It seems odd to me that she'd want to live 20 min away - with no car. 

The cash/pre-payment is a red flag for us.  It's cheaper to wait another month than to pay for an eviction.  Ultimately, I'd go with your gut....because you're going to have to trust that.