Too Good To Be True?

[Gayle Eisner]

I am house hacking and I am wondering about renting MY portion of the home to a married man, wife and dog that work for a construction company.  I have a downstairs tenant was well that has lived here for about two months downstairs. The applicants are from Los Angeles  and I live in Bay Area, California.  I have not met them but they want to rent my house for top dollar as they have a construction job here. The applicants said they do not want to stay in a hotel if possible due to the Virus situation and the dog. They sent me pictures of themselves and dog (Lab Retriever) ...They tell me that the company will pay two months rent in advance and deposit and he will pay a dog deposit of $500.  The man seems "over the top" nice on the phone.  They offered even to pay an extra $100/month on top of rent.  I am leaving for four months to go out of town to work every year and usually rent it for four months. They want to rent for two months and then renew for another two months if second job is still available as with Virus situation, it is not known if the job will indeed be there in two months due to many factors including Shelter In Place law..   I have not spoken with the Construction Company yet.  i have never dealt with this type of renter, esp.concerned as it is my own house (furnished)..?. I am cautious as I will be out of state (WY) and sometimes if it is too good to be true, then it probably is.  Anyone have this situation before, working with an applicant like this?  They said they can meet me but also can rent the home sight unseen.  I am also concerned that it might turn into a flop house for all their other construction guys, as I have heard this happens sometimes.??  I have never dealt with this kind of situation?  This is working with a business instead of a person is a new situation to me, but I rent my home out every summer when I work out of state to regular applicants...I don't want to lose my downstairs tenant that is a great tenant which is a concern as well due to noise from dog etc..I don't rent to applicants with dogs, usually....Guidance please?? Thank you!

[Nathan Gesner]

I rent to company people all the time, but I make them pay a price.

They have three options in my area:

• Stay in a hotel. Even the cheapest in my area will run $50 a night and it's a dump. For three people that will cost them almost $5,000 a month to sit in a dumpy little room with a mini fridge and microwave.
• Vacation rental. A 3bed/2bath will easily cost $2,000 or more a month. But the real bad news? They're rarely available because people are booking vacation stays 6-12 months in advance. It's very hard to find a short-term rental that's available for even one month, particularly in the summer tourist season.
• My places. I offer my long-term rentals on a month-to-month basis for a 25% increase. $1,400 for a 3bed/2bath gets bumped to $1,750, then I add in the cost of utilities, TV, internet, and landscaping. I limit occupancy to one person per bedroom. Three employees in a nice single-family home with full kitchen, laundry, all utilities, privacy, etc. for about 1/2 what a hotel would cost and less than a typical vacation rental. If they want it furnished, I will arrange with a rental company to deliver and pickup and that cost is also added to the bill. I charge a $500 setup fee for the additional work involved in processing utilities, coordinating furniture rental, etc. I charge a refundable deposit equal to one month of rent and I charge a mandatory cleaning fee of $100 per bedroom and bathroom ($500 on a 3bed/2bath).

I have a company right now that is paying $2,200 a month for a single-family home that normally would rent for $1,200. They will stay for four months, so it's an extra $4,000 income this year.