All Forum Posts by: Jon K.

The person lives with their significant other. They want a quiet place to study/work in the evenings, and ultimately plan to move back in with significant other. I met significant other, too.

Good point about being concerned about my possessions, too.

Aside from the bogus check, the person just told me they're an outside smoker. That's a dealbreaker to me, unless possibly I just can't find anyone else. Hate the smell of smoke... too hard to get that smell out of houses, and even if they smoke outside only, they still bring the smell in. This person smelled like smoke when they came to see the place, but I thought it was their significant other who smelled a few feet away of smoke. Yuck.

This is a shared living situation, with me as the roommate sharing property.

My policy has been "no smokers, no way."

I keep getting smokers inquire, even though I put "no smokers" in the ad.

A few have even come and seen the place, seemed like decent matches, then finally they said "I sometimes smoke outside only."

Nexttttt....

What are your thoughts on outdoor smokers?

How much smell would a smoker who smokes outside bring in the house?

Ah, interesting how the system works.

Wanting this immediate area.... there are extremely few rentals in my immediate area. Next to none, except a few houses for rent that start at $2000 plus utilities for the smaller ones. Deposits are usually a month or so of rent, so they'd have to come up with $4000 to move into a house like that. Plus utilities.

A small, less nice not too far away apartment would be about $600-800ish for an efficiency or small one bedroom. A nice apartment... over a grand. An apartment in an ickier area would only be maybe $500ish. Not insane rents here, but I think the person wants to save money. They're in school, and from what I can tell, have child support payments of $200 a month.

If they're making $35,000, I think that's about $1800 take home after taxes. Seems like they should be able to afford more than a roommate situation, but sort of understandable if they're paying for child support, car payment, college tuition.

They also don't want a long-term lease, which I'm cool with. Most apartments and houses here want at least a year lease,... but I don't mind shorter.

The person currently lives with someone they know, but wants a quieter more private place to focus on their studies at night. This person is over 30 years old, not a younger college kid.

Supposedly this person works in payroll/accountanting. This person makes between $30,000-40,000 per year.

Makes me wonder.... were they broke? One accidental mistake?
If this could be an accidental bank overdraft, I would be more understanding... though someone in the financial field should be better at numbers. And, within the past year.. yikes.

Outcome says disposed with costs. It appears that he paid it back, had an attorney, and paid amount plus court fees.

Currently lives with someone they know, but wants own place. They could have saved up some money living with this person, so there may be less financial difficultly than last year.

It sounds like the career field makes it less likely for them to bounce rent on me. That's a plus!

Roommate situation, where they will share my house.

I found a potential roommate who works in the financial industry.

This person had a court case within the past year where they had a bogus check. The result was "disposed" with fees. It appears that they paid this back after the issue. I only see one bogus check case in their past.

Person works full-time, does online school as well.

Should I require all cash payments?
Should I check credit? Rental references?

Would you rent to this person.... in a roommate/shared living situation?

Month to month... I like that.

Ah, true... they're bringing their kid into a house of strangers. I forgot about that side of it. There probably is a reason they can't find a place, on top of money. I thankfully haven't seen kid damage. Yikes.

I've gotten a few inquiries tonight that sound pretty good.

One is an office assistant for an attorney (yikes), but sounds like a good match otherwise and seemed really pleasant in the e-mail.

Another is some general office worker who says they're a neat freak. Couldn't find much about the second person online, just age... a little older, but not twice my age like some others. I have openings for the two, so maybe they'll both take it. I'm just glad some seemingly decent, childless people are are starting to inquire.

I got more inquiries with kids.

They mention it so casually.

"Oh, and I have a 7 year old."

UMMM....

"Oh, and I have a couch" is a casual thing. A child????? That's a big deal. I mean, it's bad enough for a roommate to have a cat... but... them plus one is like 2 roommates. For one price.

Kids = loud, messy, more utilities, more people to crowd a place, liability (bath tubs? stairs? guests over? screening new roommates sufficiently to live with a kid?), babysitting, making it unlikely any other roommates will want to live there with existing kid, and... yikes. I like kids ok, but I'm not living with one.

I feel bad for people who have kids and need to rent a room.

I just can't understand why they would choose a roommate situation in a pricier area than a cheaper apartment around the same rate in a "normal" but safe neighborhood. I wish these people the best, I just can't imagine them thinking having a kid in a roommate setting isn't a massive deal.

Thanks for the comments, all.

I'll have to look into roommate finder services, too.

I should try to be less picky. I'm just worried about ending up with a psycho, slob, or person who brings people over non-stop.

Sketchy boyfriends? Yikes.

"Didn't you like college?" Heh, that's funny. Long span of roommates, too. It does help with bills quite a bit.

Good to know fair housing is different.

I once applied to rent a condo, and the owners/agent told me some couple offered a 2 year lease for more money than advertised rent and they were going to rent to them instead. I was understanding about it.

They owners also worried I was too young. I don't think you're supposed to use age, but it happened friends and I often back then. I think they used rental history or income regarding my youth. Frankly, I was indeed too young. I'm glad they turned my down. I wasn't exactly clean and careful with rentals at that age. I haven't heard of lease length as discriminatory though. I like the others' suggestions of lease length being in your pre-determined criteria.

Also true that someone could sign a few year lease, but walk away due job, family, etc. issues. I suppose you could send that to collections. Or, they could sign a few year lease then be nothing but a whiney pain in the butt.

I had someone rent once who wanted a short time place-- she ended up staying over 2 years. I rented from someone once and let my lease go month to month... I stayed several years.

Can I say this in my ad, or are there still fair housing issues with advertising for roommates? That is my ideal roommate for sure.