All Forum Posts by: Sara Ratliff

Thank you all for the tips, I really appreciate all of the insight!

@Anna Sagatelova Thank you for your advice! I definitely realize I need a solid process. We are still pretty new to the arena and figuring stuff out! Thank you!

@Joe Splitrock thank you for your advice. I agree with that.

@Anna Sagatelova I was waiting to decide if I was even going to consider based on the information he provided.

@John Teachout Thank you for your insight, really appreciate that. Yes, we really need to get our process down pat, and I am concerned about all of those things you mentioned. Appreciate all of you!

@Todd Rasmussen eek! That’s what I’m afraid of in this case. Thanks for the input!

@Greg M. Thanks for the advice. I agree with you on the 2 year lease aspect- I was trying to decide if that was a good thing or a bad thing. As far as market rent- it’s hard to determine in that area. There’s not a lot to compare to and there are 2 electric providers- one inside he city limits with astronomical rates and one outside of the city limits with average rates. Just makes the comparison a little more complex. Luckily this house is outside the city limits which is the main selling point. Zillow has the zestimate at 1300, but we’ve been on a rocky road asking 950. I guess I’ll let him go through with the background and credit check and go from there. Thanks again for the advice.

@John Teachout Thanks for the reply, you’re so right. It’s been tough to determine what our criteria needs to be in that area, unfortunately. We were actually considering selling it, but decided to give it one more shot, and here we are.

I recently listed a rental and got an offer from someone to pay $250 more per month than what we listed for. I want to be ethical and legal, and haven’t found anything that states otherwise, but wanted to check with all of you experts and get your thoughts.

I do believe we have listed it too low, but we have had trouble with this rental property, mostly due to our newbie mistakes, and thought we would severely limit our tenant pool if we went any higher (already in a small rural town). He has a criminal history (from 10 years ago) and says his credit is not good, but is trying to rebuild it to buy a house in a couple of years. (I have not run credit/background yet to confirm to what extent). He also would like to sign a 2 year lease. He tells me he is willing to pay this higher amount to save him money from what he is currently paying in rent, and also was aware of the interest the house was getting. He has fulfilled his previous lease and is currently month to month. The rental pool for tenants in this area is not great, so we have never had squeaky clean backgrounds/credit, but also have a lot of turnover and lease breaking- literally the past 4 out of 5 tenants due to the couple splitting up. We decided we were going to be stricter on criteria this time around to break this cycle of turnover, but are considering this offer. Would you give this guy a chance? Are there any repercussions for accepting him as the tenant simply for his offer of higher rent despite the red flags with background/credit? I’ll add, he is also willing to pay a larger deposit, and I will check references and with current landlord.