I've had a lot of turnover in the last few months while I brought a couple new properties on line.
3 bedroom townhouse in a trendy neighborhood being offered for $900, a little below market:
1. "I can only pay $700 a month and am moving in July. Hold it for me okay" (this was April)
2. "I thought I'd be buying a house so I didn't renew my lease. But it turns out I have bad credit so that didn't happen yet. I just need somewhere for my family to be for a few months while I take care of it. But of course I'll sign a year lease and then you can do whatever you need to do to garnish my wages." Uhhhhhhhh. Interesting. Pass.
3. Walking through the house grimacing at every part of it that might be made out of wood, saying "I'm a carpenter, so, this... *waves hands* I couldn't live with this. Maybe if we knocked a hundred or so off the rent and I fix all this for you?" Dude, it's in fine shape, if you want a beautiful craftsman lodge you're going to need to look elsewhere.
People looking at a couple of 2-bedroom apartments I have:
1. Lady says it will be just her who would be living there. Shows up with her extremely pregnant daughter and daughter's boyfriend. Oh, they're looking for a place too, but wouldn't be living here. Sure. But do we allow dogs? Because boyfriend has two dogs. Not that he'd be living here, of course. Pass.
2. Another lady asks if I accept pets. Tentative yes, but we need to discuss it further. Oh good! Because for this two bedroom apartment, it will be her, husband, three kids, two dogs, and a cat. They just moved in to another apartment with a year lease but they don't like the landlord. Pass.
3. Also in April. Maybe even earlier? Feb? Lady contacts me through a neighborhood group on behalf of her son. He and his pregnant girlfriend are on a month to month lease in a house that's too expensive for them, and she saw my ad. Sure! Talk to the guy, his credit isn't great, but he's a local guy with a solid job and solid references. Would mom be willing to co-sign? Sure! And her credit is good. He comes to see the apartment and thinks it's perfect. Then I get a message from the pregnant girlfriend... who apologizes for her crazy boyfriend and MIL, because they aren't on a month to month lease, their lease isn't up until August and she has no idea what the hell they're thinking. Ha! Okay, good luck with the baby.
And the folks who just see that I advertise apartments (being known as the local landlady has entertainment value as well as economic)...
1. "Do you accept Section 8?" No. "Oh, well do you have any one bedrooms?" No. "Oh. Well how much do one of your properties run? My wife and I r looking for a 1 bedroom. Pet friendly" I still don't have any one bedrooms. "Okay well if u hear of anything let me know" why would I do that?...
2. Lady messages me to ask what bills are included with the rent. Water is included, that's it. She wants to know why landlords don't include utilities when rent is already higher than a mortgage. Give her 5 minutes of my time to discuss it because I'm the Friendly Neighborhood Landlady and she's happy. A week later, she calls me during tax season (day job is accounting) and wants to meet up with me for "a few hours" so I can give her free advice on how to get a mortgage????? Pass...?
3. Lady is looking for a studio or efficiency for her husband who she's kicking out. Sorry, none of mine are available. She's been asking me weekly for about 3 months now. Stop. Please stop.
3.5 - Local guy contacts me because he's getting divorced and wants to sell the house in a hurry. Same couple, I think. (House wouldn't work for me.)
4. Young woman got a job at a local ballet company. Her mom calls me for an efficiency or one bedroom (still none available) and wants to know if the rent would be affected if they decided to have 1-2 more of the ballerinas stay there. Well, yes it would go up a bit, but also, I don't think the city would be happy with me if I allowed that.
