Pros/cons to renting to family vs friends/roommates

[Abdul Hassan]

Hi Everyone.

I have two groups of qualified tenants looking to rent my 4BR apartment. One is a family of 3 - mom, dad, and newborn baby (parents are in their 30's). The other is a group of 4 young men in their 20's who are friends in a band. Both are financially qualified, but the family of 3 has asked if I could lower the rent by about $130 to meet their budget (although they make just as much as all 4 men combined). I live in a high rent area so for my 4BR/1.5BA, I'm asking $2330 - they're asking to lower it $2200. The group of guys are okay with our asking price. All things considered, I think I should go with the group of guys since they're able to meet our asking price, but is there any value to renting to a family with a baby as opposed to a group of friends? Are they likely to stay around longer? Are they likely to cause less wear and tear on the house? I feel like the guys are likely to make noise that could upset my other tenants (it's a 3 unit apartment). But then again, I know newborn babies tend to cry a lot as well - and you can't just tell a baby to stop crying. I also feel like having 4 separate incomes is better than 1, and so if one of the guys were to lose their jobs, the other 3 would likely pay his portion until he got on his feet. Whereas if things went bad for the family, that'd likely mean they couldn't afford their rent (I believe they have a single source of income, at least at the moment).

I want to make a decision not based solely on money, but based on the entire experience. I'm just asking for an experienced perspective on this.

Thanks