Fair Security Deposit?

[Rhiannon Then]

Question at the bottom if you hate long posts, lol. So literally 30 minutes ago, my neighbor who lives across the street told me she wants to rent my home. We are moving this weekend and planned to lease through a PM company that charges 10% , starting September 1st. The company thought we could get $700 for it. They have not looked at it yet. We wanted $750. We just remodeled and have an alarm system, big lot, so the price seems fair to market. The neighbor had been living in her grandmother's winter home, paying rent, and thought she would be there for another year. She was renting conventionally, but had an emergency move due to mold, hence staying at grandmas. Grandma wants to sell, and my neighbor needs a place to go. She approached me today and is fine with $750 and $200 pet deposit. Her pets are well-behaved. I've gotten a good feel for her the last year. My kids play with hers, and I've been in her house. She is a cleanly person, and her kids are well-behaved. She works for her real estate agent sister and her husband fixes planes and is working on his license, so steady jobs. They plan to stay a year and 1/2. Sorry for all the info. I just like to paint a picture, in case, I'm missing something. Someone recently rebuked me once for rambling😬May write a song about it😄 The fair rent and knowing who I'm renting from is a plus. We'd have to PM from Mesa, but the house has given us little problems, and we can pick up a phone and call a contractor. ***What is a fair security deposit?*** To my impatient investor friends 😉: My neighbor next door, who seems to be a good tenant, wants to rent my place. What is a fair security deposit?

[Marcia Maynard]

Ours is equal to just above one month's rent or just below one month's rent. We don't set it equal to one month's rent because some tenants can't seem to wrap their head around the fact that it's a security deposit and not last month's rent. We make it an even amount, like $1000. The bigger the place, the higher the security deposit. If the place has high end details, the security deposit will also be higher. If the place is basic affordable housing the security deposit will be lower.

However, that's for our security deposit "base". If we accept a tenant that has a weaknesses in income history, credit history, housing history, or legal history, we will ask for a greater deposit to cover our risk.