All Forum Posts by: Jennifer L.

Does anybody think there can be a negative effect to having your listing up too long and too soon?  I wonder since Zillow tracks how long your listing is available if that can deter tenants as your listing ages.

I had a 14 day turnover after a tenant vacated the property after 15 years.  There was no way I could show it while he was in there - it was a mess.  It took me a week to get it painted and fixed up.  Once I listed it, I had a leased signed in four days. But because of the increase in rent, it only took me two months to break even on the vacancy.

This last time, I had lots of notice and I was able to show the place while the tenants were still in it. They had it decorated and arranged pretty nicely.  It didn't help. It took the place being empty and clean to get it rented again.  Fortunately, they bought a house and moved out before the end of their lease, so I had zero days vacancy between tenants this time.  Still breaking even though, as I was unable to place a tenant at increased rent.

@Jen L. You can can make it "pets on approval" so that you can limit breed of dog, which you may want to do for liability purposes.  

@Account Closed Your experience in D properties simply doesn't translate to A and B properties.  Maybe not even C properties. And, depending on how long ago you were in the game, it may not be helpful to today's "real" landlords. When I started renting, not a lot of people were banking online and there wasn't such a thing as a smart phone.

I have adjusted my landlording to the needs of my tenants as the times have changed. 

@Account Closed In 16 years, I haven't had a tenant request to pay me with a money order. The only way I could possibly see it happening is if I had someone who was churning credit cards for miles. I'm sure that people who specialize in low income housing encounter this more. I don't invest in those properties. 

Lots of people trust 3rd party sites. So much so that there are people who rarely cut a check. I'm one of those people. 

Are you going to make your tenants go to the store and get a money order if they want to pay you electronically?

@Jen L. I'm pretty sure I could have rented out my place for $200 more per month if I accepted dogs.  (My place is in San Jose.)  You can demand a higher security deposit for the pet if you are worried about damage.  I found the market was a little soft last month when I was advertising my place.

@Brian Barfoot I'm in Silicon Valley and pretty much everybody does everything with a smart phone.  I think what is key is to meet the needs of your prospective tenant pool.  

@Lynn Hill-Torres I have one rental.  So the last tenants requested it and I set it up for the second month (first was paid by cashier's check.)  My next tenants applied through Cozy, and I told them that was my preferred method of payment.  They were fine with that, so they actually submitted the security deposit and first month rent through Cozy.  I allow my tenants to pay by check or cash if they like.  In 16 years, no tenant has ever asked to pay me with cash or a money order.

You should check the laws of Maryland to see if you have to provide more than one option for payment.  In California, you do, so my lease is compliant with the laws of this state.

I recently had three people offer me various amounts of rent up front.  None of the three met my criteria (one failing on credit, income AND background), one lied about income, and one couldn't prove income.  The response: Deny.  Deny and Deny.

Do you have applications that they have filled out?  I did online applications through Cozy which made it really easy to figure out who got their app in first.  The first applicant who met my criteria was asked to pay for credit/background.  When they passed, I told the other applicants that my rental was moving towards signing but I would contact them to let them know if the lease signed or fell through.  Some people paid for the background/credit check before I asked for them to.  In those instances, they were sub-par applicants who didn't meet my criteria.  I figured they were trying to push themselves through. It didn't work and I didn't feel bad because they had ignored my instructions.