All Forum Posts by: Sylvia B.

I can't help but wonder why she wants to rent if she actually has the money and income she claims.

 Just curious -- why do you dislike a stove on an inside wall?

 Ah, I see. We don't get a lot of different cultures in my market. Unless you count those who move here escaping California . . .    ;-) 

 I doubt we would want to rent to someone who doesn't understand that phrase.

If they are a "trouble tenant" that meets your screening criteria, then your criteria is not comprehensive enough. 

Expand your screening criteria. Ours includes the applicant's character: "Applicant should be a courteous person who is generally clean and well kept in appearance, and demonstrates honesty, reliability, and follow through during the application process."

Your criteria should be provided to each applicant in written form, should not discriminate against a protected class, and should be applied equally to all applicants. That will keep you out of trouble. As others have said, you do not have to send an adverse action letter unless you run a credit check, and you should not do that unless they meet all other criteria. 

I would only be concerned with following trends for A class rentals or high dollar short term, if at all.

We never jumped on the gray bandwagon. We have a very nice tan that we use in all our houses. White doors and trim. There is no way I'd paint an entire rental white. Blech.

What is it like being a landlord? Well . . . . . .  It really depends on when you ask.

There are times when 3/10 houses go vacant at one time. There are good tenants that suddenly and inexplicably go very, very bad. Mystery plumbing problems that take a while to solve. Tenants who consistently pay just under the late fee deadline. Suicides. Incarceration. Freak windstorms that blow large trees onto houses. Etc., etc.

But 95% of the time none of that stuff happens. We have very few turnovers, partly because we treat our tenants right, and partly because our in market it is very difficult to find a rental, so people stay put.

We've never, in 11 years, had a call in the middle of the night. We did have 2 maintenance calls during our recent 2 week vacation, but they were a simple matter to take care of. One, the AC wasn't working and the high temp was close to 100. Called our HVAC guy and asked them to schedule with the tenant. Done. The other was a bad plumbing leak (broken pipe). Reminded tenant of how to shut off water and called plumber. Now all that's left is replacing ceiling tiles in the basement. Yes, it technically "interrupted" our vacation, but not too much. We've only had one other maintenance call this year.

Most of the time, it's smooth sailing.

I am fortunate - The town where my rentals are located does not allow pitbulls. Someone even went to court trying to get an exemption for their ESA pitbull and they were shot down. So denying someone with a pitbull is easy. We just tell them that the city doesn't allow them. If they want to argue or complain, we just tell them to talk to City Hall.

We do allow pets, in fact, all 10 of our rentals currently have pets, but we meet them before approval. You can tell a lot about the temperament of a dog by how it acts when meeting a stranger.

Too much logic there, Joe. Their heads would explode trying to comprehend. 

I've heard this before, and I'm curious. Is there a law that says you cannot have a yearly lease? Specifically, that the unit is leased by the year, not the month, with rent due up front? You can rent places by the day or the week, and I've heard of 99 year leases, so why not 1 year?