Let me know if I am being taken for a fool.

[Justin F.]

What's up BP,

So I finally got my rental property squared away with just a few more repairs to handle.. This was a foreclosure that I completely remodled, and it's a fairly decent home.

Now here is my dilmena, I thought I had found the perfect tenants, their references checked out and they were moving to be closer to their daughters school.

Well, I should've known there was a problem given they were so anxious to move in without a lease or anything so they wanted me to let them move in on this Monday when we discussed that their move in date was sept 3. That was the planned date for the move in because it gave me and my guys a buffer to get the house move in ready. So this is strike one.

It gets even better...

Strike two is that they kind of tricked me into saying I'd take less than what I was offering for rent. They had called about a month ago stating they would move in for 100 less and I might have said yes or not, but I don't remember but they brought that up and said they would only pay the 900 a month. Uhmm, I've had about 20 apps on this house and they were all willing to offer over 1000' but whatever.

Strike three, they can't pay me when they move in on this Monday, only on sept 7 can they pay me. But they want to pay from sept 3 even though they want to move in on this Monday.

Strike 4, they gave ,e the deposit but now they want to reduce the deposit.

There isn't a lease or anything, just a check.

Can I just say no, I don't want to lease to you all. You've caused me 4 headaches and you're not even in the house yet!

[J Scott]

It certainly sounds like you're being taken advantage of. But, this isn't their fault -- it's yours. You're allowing it to happen.

You need to be perfectly clear with them (and yourself) when the move-in date is, what the rent is, and what the deposit is. The deposit should be paid now (or at very latest when the lease is signed) to hold the spot for when they're ready to move in. The lease needs to be signed immediately. And the first month's rent needs to be paid when they get the keys, which should be the possession date on the lease.

Don't be willing to change any of these terms, especially since you seem to have a lot of other interested potential tenants. If these tenants can't live up to the terms you've set forth, dump them.
Being a landlord isn't overly complicated, but it does require that you be willing to be inflexible and put your foot down when someone takes advantage of you. If you can't do this, perhaps find a property manager to manage the property for you.