All Forum Posts by: Tamara R.

You may consider doing it, but tell them you will charge more rent for such an arrangement--$200, $300, Or $500 a month more....whatever will make it worth it to you. That way you would collect about an extra months worth of rent during that time period that may make it worth it for you. In my area (Washington, DC), the only times that seem to be bad rental months are mid-November through the New Years. There aren't as many people looking in January, but I was pretty quickly able to find tenants in January last time I had to. Also, people get their tax refunds then and seem to have more cash on hand....

What is the trend in your area? Are units renting quickly or sitting for a long time? As others have pointed out, one Craigslist ad is not an accurate predictor. You can do rental property searches for similar properties on Zillow, Hotpads, and realtor.com. Since these are usually listed by realtors, they seem to have more accurate pricing that reflects the market.

You might try this tack: Tell the tenant that your costs (insurance, HOA fees if applicable, taxes) have gone up over the past 2 years that his rent remained at the same price. Although you would love to be able to afford keeping the rent the same, you need to have some increase to help you keep up with your costs. Ask him what he can afford (shows that you care about his needs)....if he says "nothing" then you can just decide to keep it the same. Most likely he will come back with a higher number, though, even if it is just $10.

Then again, I have visisted homes that looked great in the photos, but terrible in person (you couldn't see the dirt, cracks, and stains in the photo, but it was very evident when you visisted the property). I agree that good photos are important, but the overall condition of the property is most important.

I have heard of people taking bounced checks to the bank (where the checking account is) and asking if there are sufficient funds to cover it in the account. If there are, they cash the check there at the "bouncers" bank. If they know when pay day is, that might be a good day to do it.

@matt Liu: you might try looking at a web site called "do my own pest control" for tips. I have never had to treat bedbugs myself, but I have heard that throwing out furniture MAY be necessary--especially if the infestation is a bad one.

DE alone won't help. Tenants need to wash all of their clothes/bedding in hot water. ALso, mattresses/pillow need to be sealed with covers that kill bed bugs, etc. Sofas and other fabric furniture may need to be thrown out.The tenants have to be very proactive and follow all necessary steps or they will just keep coming back

In my area, you'd have to travel back to 1968 to buy a house for 30K:)

Once when I was looking for a place to rent I went into an occupied home that was filthy and really messy. One of the people who lived there was sitting on the nasty couch in his underwear eating a bowl of cereal. He looked at me and said "don't worry, we are going to clean it when we move out." NEXT!!!!

I haven't been a landlord too long (about 5 years), but I do have 2 long term tenants (5 years). The key for me? Both sets are former homeowners who fell on hard times due to divorce (one of them) and poor investment decision (the other one) that caused them to lose their homes and need to rent. They wouldn't have been attractive tenants to lots of people due to bad credit. However, I could tell they were decent people who came upon hard circumstances through no fault of their own. One had good income and poor credit, and the other had a lower income but a parent with deep pockets who was willing to help them out financially. Obviously neither will be a homeowner again for a long time. So the key to keeping them has been keeping rents slightly below market and making improvements to the property when they re-sign a lease.

So, yes I am advocating for giving people with poor credit a chance, so long as they are responsible and have decent income.

I have a rental property in Maryland (Anne Arundel County), and your property can definitely be leined (sp?) if your tenant doesn't pay their water bill. Also, in my experience they will never cut the water off even if a tenant hasn't paid the bill for months. Fortunately, they do notify you if the bill is months overdue. However at that point it could be in the hundreds. Also, be careful about Section 8. Did it once and would never do it again. Our one section 8 tenant left us with a $1000 water bill (and the damage from the water leak they never told us about). ONce they have left and destroyed your property, you will never collect damages because they don't have any money. That $10,000 lesson did a number on the bottom line....