Are all last-minute tenants bad ones?

[Jon K.]

Are all last-minute applicants bad ones?

I've been looking for a February roommate.

I've started getting more inquiries again, but after a quick Google/court record search for them, I have charming candidates.

1) Student with no job... she has a recent lawsuit against her from a rental company. And, at least 2 people have filed restraining orders against her. Google also says she allegedly tried to run an adoption scam.

2) Female in her 30s with drug charges within the past few years.

3) Guy with tons of charge-offs in small claims court.

This is a roommate setting. I don't accept people with evictions or drug charges. Small claims ok if older collections, and if income/rental history is good.

[Jon K.]

I got some better inquiries today.

- A 50 year old who recently sold their house, needs short-term, will relocate elsewhere. They want to see it. They're older, but short-term former homeowner... I'll take it. They have a few old collections in court records. Nothing that drastic or serious. They had a small claims case about 5 years ago. I'll still likely take them.

- A 21 year old... not likely to be a good match. Too young, and can't seem to tell me more than one sentence about themselves.

- A 20something needing a very short-term place before moving back to Latin America... sounds like a good match if they want it.

[James H.]

I don't know if I could ever accept a room-mate, but if I did, I would advertise at the engineering and architecture departments at the local universtities.

When I was in college(only a few years ago) I had several internship opporunities out of town and when I was considering internships in Houston, Dallas, New Orleans and elsewhere, I found places to lease for the summer on Craigslist. The rent was usually around 800/month and I there would be another intern possibly sharing the unit. I actually looked at one place in Houston and talked to the leasing agent (It might have been the owner) and it was legit.

[Jon K.]

Steve Babiak

Interesting, I forgot that engineering students have internships in other cities. I'm not sure who sends interns to my city, but I'll have to look into it.

Roommates definitely suck. The money was nice at first, but I'm getting tired of it and fast. Finding people who aren't crazy is a challenge, plus there's the usual roommate things like people not cleaning, noise, guests, and just having someone else in your space. Definitely ready to retire from roommates.

[Jon K.]

Someone came to see it, and wants to move in.

They're nearly twice my age.

But, they have a job. A car that appears clean. They were well dressed, polite, and recently sold their home. They're looking to relocate later in the year.

Age or not, seems like a good enough match since they're 1) seemingly sane 2) not a criminal 3) have a job.

I got a few more inquiries today from people my own age who need a place mid-February. Mostly out-of-state short-term people. The older person who I met seemed nicer than the out-of-state people. Friends tell me not to accept someone older, but... I'm firm. I have a good lease. I know old people. It's short-term. If I don't like them, it's month to month. I think age can matter, but this person has a similar situation (studying, working, wanting to relocate, owned a home). They pleasantly were willing to fill out any applications I have. If they were my age, I probably wouldn't think twice about accepting them.

[Nick Matteson]

All of the last minute tenants who 'needed to move immediately' have turned out poorly for me.

They have fallen into 2 categories :
1) They weren't actually happy with the home, since they put themselves in the situation where they felt pressured to settle for anything they can get. They complained about EVERYTHING, and were pain in the butt tenants. In the end it was a hassle dealing with their whining baby attitude every month. Good riddance.
2) They were happy with the home but they had absolutely NO planning skills, and even if on paper it showed they could easily make the rent - they couldn't get their ducks in a row each month and were like wrangling greased pigs. Month after month after month, it was Late Fees, Angry texts, phone calls, and emails to get the rent.

I never want to deal with either again, because both cost me time and money I don't want to waste. I want somebody who can plan at least a month, or 2 weeks ahead.