All Forum Posts by: Jen Faulkner

We've never collected rent electronically, but we'd like to start.  I've heard of eRentPayments, PayLease, Dwolla, and PopMoney.  For those of you who use these services, what are the pros and cons of each?  Is there a reason that you've chosen one over the other?  Besides the ones I've named, what others are there?

Any STRUCTURAL ENGINEERS or ARCHITECTS in the Peoria, IL area willing to do a consultation with us? We have a supporting wall that we want to take down. My husband wants to do it himself, but he wants advice. We will pay for the consultation.

I absolutely didn't imply that her being a single mother is a reason not to rent to her.  I only made reference to her being a single mother because I think it shows that she has moved on with her life.  Although not always, children give people a reason to change.  On top of that, I welcome the fact that she has a small child because it's above our personal home, and if she's willing to put up with our noise and the noise that our own children make, then we welcome her noise too.  And I accepted her this morning, so we're moving forward with the rental.  

Thanks, everyone for your suggestions.  We've been landlords since 2008, so it's nothing new for us, but I have just been curious for awhile as to what criteria other landlords follow.  It's nice to know that others are as picky as we are.

I thought I should probably add a little more info.  We do have a few rentals, but this particular one is above our personal home.  We bought the house three years ago because it was closer to our kids' private school, but it coincidentally had a rental suite.  We didn't set out to look for one, but we've utilized it since we've been here.  And I don't think we're any more strict with this rental than we are with the others.  I guess honestly, I would feel comfortable with her above us.  A young, single mom doesn't seem like much of a threat.  She does earn 3x the rental amount.  She was probably about sixteen when she was arrested eight years ago, so I don't see a lot of red flags, but I still find myself wanting to turn her away because of it.  Wasn't sure if I was being too strict, or just being snooty.  lol   

Maybe we're too strict.  I just want to feel out other opinions.  If you checked someone out and found out that they were arrested for theft in 2007, but they were never convicted, how would you proceed?  I've had a vacancy for a couple of months, and for the most part, I've turned people away because they've had assaults on their records, or they have a record for breaking into cars, etc.  Today I screened someone who fits the above description, and I find myself wanting to turn her away too, even though she wasn't convicted.  She does have a child now, so that definitely changes people.

What are your criteria for accepting/refusing people?

Thanks for the opinions, everyone.  I NEVER hold a unit if someone has already come to see it but doesn't give a deposit.  There is a guy right now who says he'll have the deposit on the 11th, and I've said what I'll say to anyone ... that I will keep showing it, and when he has the deposit, he can call me back.  My main question was whether you would cancel with someone that you have an appointment with.  

@Marcia Maynard, for the most part, I've always done it your way.  I love having a pool of people to choose from.  This particular rental, though, has been vacant for a little over two months...the longest we've ever had a vacany, but it's a unit above our house, and we've already turned a few people away because of criminal history or whatever reason.  We're not desperate to get it rented, but I have three good tenants (who made it through prescreening) coming to look within the next three days, so I'm debating on whether I should just take the first one who qualifies and cancel the others, since the apartment has been vacant for so long.  Hmmm. 

I've been a landlord for seven years, but I'm just curious about what the rest of you do.  I always feel a little uncomfortable in this case.  Okay, let's say today is Tuesday.  You talk to Person #1 on the phone, pre-screen them on Facebook (haha, yes I do!) before you ever meet them, and you're pretty sure they're a good fit for the rental, but they can't see the rental until Saturday because they're so far away.  However, Person #2 calls and looks at the rental on Wednesday.  They fill out an application, and they are a perfect fit also.  Do you still "play fair" and wait the three more days to show it to Person #1?  I don't usually run into this problem because we will show it to several people on the same day, so we have several applications to look over at the same time.  But in this case, I wonder if I'm a bad guy if I cancel with Person #1.  I know there's a risk of "losing" one or both if there is too much of a delay, but since Person #1 made the appointment first, is there a best answer to this?  What does everyone do?

Welcome, @Paul Kouri!  I do have a architectural question for you.  I will send you a message.   :)

That's exactly what I'm looking for.  I just called it "brick facade," but I guess that's not the same thing?   lol  Menards has something called brick veneer that I also assumed is about the same thing.  But I just need a person who can put it on for us.  I had a name and a number, but when I called it, the number was disconnected. 

Anyone in the Peoria, IL or central IL area have someone they'd recommend to put a brick facade over existing brick?