All Forum Posts by: Jehan Jaleel

My parents have a house which I am currently living in, they do not want to sell and I want to move out of state, so we are trying to rent it out. It is a large house, 5 Bed 3 Baths, 2600 sq feet, and the fair market rent value for this area (central NJ) I believe is at least $2700. But problem is we are having trouble finding tenants at this price point.  The tenant screening guide on this site recommends that we set a criteria of a income having to be at least 3x the rent. So that forces us to only look at those who make at least $100,000 a year. Then on top of that we also require them to have good credit, this thins out the herd even more. Sometimes I think most people in this income range would rather buy than rent.

So what do you think my chances are of finding tenants at this price point who are willing to stay for at least a year?

Thanks.

My parents rented out the first floor of their bi level house in New Jersey to a horrible tenant and now they have asked my help in evicting this squatter. My parents did not make him sign any lease and only took cash payments (not very smart I know). I wonder if this will help or hurt us in the eviction process?

For the first couple of months, he was fine but then he started becoming delinquent in his rent (either paying late or paying partially). This has been going on now for 3 months at least.

Only now have my parents finally had it and they are wondering how best to go about removing him.

According to my state regulations shown here, it looks like we are not required to serve him "pay or vacate" notice right? We are reluctant to do that because he might just pay for that month and become delinquent again soon after. We have to come to realize that he is a bad apple and want him out.

If we opt for "cash for keys", how much do you recommend we offer? Does 2 months rent (plus forgiveness of all debts) seem too high?

Do we need to go the If you think we should get an attorney, could you please recommend one whose rates are reasonable?

Thanks.

Just wondering if anyone here has any experience or knowledge about the rental market in Salisbury, Maryland? Is it a relatively strong market, easy to find tenants? How landlord friendly are the state and county laws and courts?

Part of the tenant screening process is their income must be more than three times the rent. But is this their pre tax income or post tax? Also if a tenant does not have this, would you reject them right away or is there something they can offer to compensate? 

Thanks everyone for the advice, I will pass on his offer and demand he pay the rent up front.

I have a tenant prospect that seems very promising but the guy is a contractor. He noticed some improvement that can be made on my property such as new paint, carpeting and fixing some broken closet doors. He offered to do this himself if I allow him to move in with just the security deposit,  he will start paying rent 2 months later (so he will charge 2 months rent for these fixes).

Should I agree to this? One concern I have is that it complicates the lease, because now all this has to be in writing.

I am a total newbie landlord. I am renting out my home for around $2500 a month. I am using the docs on this site to guide me through this process. 

I am wondering if I also need an attorney? For example to help draft the lease or review it? 

I know those guys are pretty expensive so I would love to do this myself (after a lot of reading and research of course), but at the same time I also want to make sure I cover everything.

I also did find some sample leases for my state online.

Hi, I am trying to rent out my house in NJ (because I want to move out of state). So far I have posted an ad on Craiglist and Trullia/Zillow, but after 2 weeks I have only gotten 7 leads. 5 of those I had to turn down because they didn't pass my pre screening (initial credit and income check) and 2 decided they didn't want the  place after seeing it.

I was really hoping to get more leads than this, is it because this is a slow time of year? Or is it hard to rent for a rate this high ($2700)?

Is there anywhere else you recommend marketing it on besides the two sites I mentioned above?

Lastly would you mind taking a look at the listing and giving any recommendations on how it can be improved? Perhaps more photos or a closer availability date?

Thanks.

Jehan

@Paul Ronto, do you have any recommendations for a site which has online application? I saw your site TurboTenant has that and it has credit check also? But you also raved about TransUnion, so not sure which one to choose. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Hi,  I am first time landlord trying to rent out my house . Once I find the right tenant, I want to do my due diligence with a proper background check to make sure they pay the rent on time (so I can keep my mortgage payments) and take care of my house.  Any advice you can give for a newbie like me?

One specific question, I do have is regarding the Rental application. I found some word docs online and this site also gave me one. But I am also using some online software for credit checks, like Transuion smartmove, so should I have them fill out the rental application and do the online Transaunion? 

Also for the application, is it better to send them a soft copy via email or a hard copy during the showing?

Thanks.