Co-worker Wants To Rent

[Chelsea Mastin]

Howdy Ho!

Happy Wednesday. Hope everyone is doing well. I'm hoping for some advice.

I have been in nightmare project of constructing a top / bottom duplex. The top is finished and has been on market for about 3 weeks with not much interest. It's also in a shady part of town (Denver.) We use a property management company.

A coworker would like to rent it, but could only sign a 6 month lease. I'm hesitant to do this. Have already had negative experience of having to evict a tenant that my husband became friends with against my advice, haha. I'm also very aware of how difficult it could be to find a tenant with active construction on the property and she may be a good fit (for now.)

Pros:

She is well aware of the construction and will (hopefully) be patient with the construction crew. The project should be wrapped up within 6 months.

It would be relisted in the peak of the summer.

We can rent it NOW. It took about 2-3 months to find our last tenants for the property.

Cons:

It's a coworker. I know renting to friends /family is a bad idea.

I would have to clean / prep it again in 6 months and pay an additional fee to list it.

Would miss out on the possibility of finding a potential a long term tenant.

Should I rent to her? Any advice?

[Account Closed]

Hey @Chelsea Mastin, those are great pros and cons lists, and are really helpful on getting a good understanding of the situation. If it were me, I would not rent to a coworker. I'd do exactly what @Roy Nash mentioned: find a similar tenant now who is willing to stay longer than 6 months.