All Forum Posts by: Daniel Miller

BTW, Lynn M., that's an interesting possibility (that the home sale is forced by business or other financial pressures)... thanks for mentioning it! I'll try to specifically watch for signs of that.

I can only hope that any financial problems will leave traces in their credit reports

Yep, they are president and manager of the business. I checked BBB, it lists the business as "not a member" and has no information about them. Hopefully their financials (bank statements, etc) will be enlightening, as will their credit report once I get their application fee in the mail...

Okay, I've gotten an application from another family. I don't have their financials yet (for some reason, though she emailed to application to me, she snail-mailed the other docs!?!?). I also haven't run credit checks because I haven't gotten checks in the mail yet, hopefully Friday. She *really* wants to move in, but I'm not going to rush anything.

What makes this client different is that (a) the two husband and wife are manager and president of a privately-owned business (a medical equipment supplier), and (b) they have been homeowners, and are selling their house and moving into a rental, to be closer to their business (which is about a mile from the house that I'm renting) and because she doesn't want to take care of a yard anymore (I'm including the gardener in my package). They are probably around 50 (given that their kids are grown up, done with college, and out in the world working), so the previous statement is not inconceivable, I've seen it before.

The effect of the preceding data is that there are no previous landlords to contact, nor can I contact their employer... they *did* give references among their neighbors, who I'll call this weekend. The business has existed for at least a few years, it has reviews on both Yelp and Yahoo. I have no idea how long they lived at the house that they're selling.

Does anyone see any red flags in this situation?? I'm not really worried about it, per se, it's just a bit unusual...

hmmm... the difference, when buying a house, is that there are many dozens of pages, with all sorts of incomprehensible goop buried in them; after awhile, the signer is just blankly signing page after page...

The lease agreement, otoh, is not nearly so obfuscated... in fact, I could swear that some of those documents are striving to be comprehensible to the average person on the street!!

Theresa K: Aye, that is essentially what the B.P. lease agreement says, too. The previous proto-tenants had been trying to get me to write a prior consent to allow this, and in my newbie-itude, I said yes... I won't make that mistake again!!

Section 23 is interesting too... is that all a landlord needs to do?? "property was built before 1978. Here, sign this...".

I *really* like section 26 !! "Before you move in, you should know that you cannot move in because there are meth chemicals all over the place... "

I'm also leaning against allowing tenants to repaint. When the previous couple brought up the subject, they described it like it's real simple, and assured me that they'd restore everything when they moved out. Since then, I've thought about trying to get three or four large rooms repainted quickly so I can re-rent, and I suspect even a $2900 deposit would quickly exhausted (and that's assuming that there weren't other damages that it was needed for).

Maybe, if they really insist, I can require an additional month's deposit... if nothing else, that should get them to drop the subject!

As for the lead issue, they weren't asking about forms... they wanted me to call in a firm and get the paint tested!! Even then, I wasn't sure where I stood, which is why I'm grateful for all the feedback I got here!!

Thank you both very much! I also found the C.A.R. Lease Agreement, which I wanted to look at.

I was actually using the Lease Agreement document from this website. IIRC, it didn't have anything about lead... I'll have to check tonite.

What is C.A.R. ?? (yes, I actually tried to search google for "c.a.r. lease agreement"... obviously, that didn't work very well). I should get their lease agreement form, compare with B.P.'s, and decide what I want from each.

Oh... the house was built, I think in the late 1960's. My parents bought it in... 1971?? I think so. It had already existed for a few years before that. So do I actually have to do testing?? Or just provide a standard disclosure form?

The existing paint in the house is in excellent condition, no peeling.
I wonder if I should get soil tests done, though? We have bare soil in the back yard...

I'm glad I saw this thread also... Somehow I thought I had read here that you need to get cash for deposit *and* first-month when you signed the lease; otherwise, you are committed to the contract but you don't have the money in hand...

I very much related to Eric Michaels' comments; I'm not at all sure I really have the motivation or sturdiness for this business... but I'm going to be sturdier next time than I was this last time - it's amazing how out-of-control things got in just a couple of days...