<p>Tenants who are in a huge hurry always make me nervous. What’s the rush?</p>
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<p>Not enough info. You need to find out what kind of dog, some people consider a pit bull a small dog.</p>
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<p>Is this self-employment?</p>
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<p>At 22? Did they give you a detailed history?</p>
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<p>A zero??? </p>
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<p>What were the crimes?</p>
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<p>We give the most weight to a reference from two landlords ago, if the reference is from his current landlord he may be talking him up to get rid of him.</p>
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<p>Easily affordable if his income is a steady $5400/month.</p>
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<p>Rule #2 may apply here.</p>
<p>I’d want more information, unless you really trust your property manager.</p>
<p>munchkin, I am a landlord too. I totally agree with notrichenough. I would also request more security deposit (maybe double) because of the pet. If it’s a pit bull, I will say no.</p>
<p>Going to call the manager in a few minutes for more info. This was a new investment and a new property manager. My impression of the property management company is that they are new in the business and need to improve their operations. </p>
<p>However, that is another story for another day.</p>
<p>eta : cross posted with Momof2happyboys, thanks, taking your advice.</p>
In my state the amount you can collect up-front is limited by law. You can’t take a security deposit of more than one month’s rent. Pet fees aren’t legal either.
My insurance company has a dog breed list. If your dog is on the list, sorry, you don’t get the apartment. So yeah, no pit bulls.</p>
<p>We also meet every dog in person. If the dog doesn’t appear to be properly trained and socialized, sorry. </p>
<p>Obviously you can’t do this if there is distance or a property manager. You can insist the property manager meet the dog.</p>
<p>^I think in my state that amount is up to two months if tenants have pets, if I remember correctly. But yes, definitely, you have to do it according to your state’s law.</p>
<p>In all the places I had direct experience in, pet deposits are illegal. Where I am at right now. first and last month rent is all we are allowed. The laws are very very restrictive in favor of tenants. </p>
<p>The place being rented now is in Florida, I assume it is legal to have a “non-refundable pet fee”. </p>
<p>Now that I think of it, one of my local current tenants (I manage this one myself), a long term tenant, had one small dog living there part time when applying, then it grew into 2 small dogs and 1 cat. Then recently I found out they just adopted two kittens. :eek: How did we find out ? The next door neighbors called us to complain that the kittens keep doing their business on their yard. </p>
<p>I am thinking, if I start a thread about tales from the landlord world, would anyone be interested ? </p>
<p>Back to the op question : Is it worth it to be a landlord ? This kitten poop house was bought about 30 years ago for hypothetically $10,000. Using figures discussed here, down payment was $3,000 to make cash flow break even after expenses. The current worth is about $50,000.
In these 30 years, the house should be free and clear. So the original investment of $3,000 would have gotten us a profit of $47,000 over 30 years. The gross rent on this house is about 3.3% of it’s current market value. Always had been. </p>
<p>I am sure there are many other investment vehicles with better yields, I am just not smart enough to find them. I am the nitwit who bought bank shares because of dividends and being “safe” (hello BOA - the best managed bank in US at one point), GE (so diversified, how can it go wrong ??) after loosing our shirts in Nasdaq 5000 (remember that anyone ?)</p>
<p>@munchkin, I maybe wrong with the deposit issue since it has been awhile (2 years ago) when I rented out my house. I also have to admit that I still lose money two years later, but that is probably caused by where my house is located.
I’d love to join your tread of the tales of the landlord world, but I don’t have much to tell since I only have a couple of tenants myself (but I have many landlord friends, I heard some stories though).</p>
<p>I’m a Florida landlord and I always take 2 months rent as a security deposit. I used to take first, last and one month security but switched to first month and 2 months rent as security. The lease specifies that the security deposit may NOT be used as rent, but I still have the flexibility to allow it if I want to. If I have a good tenant who has kept the property in good shape and is moving out, I will let them use part of the security deposit as their final month’s rent if they request it. The key is that I don’t have to, and if a tenant has done a lot of damage to the place, two months’ rent as security is often not even enough.</p>
<p>Oh, BTW, nonrefundable pet deposits are legal in Florida, too.</p>
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<p>Sure! I’ve got some stories from over 30 years of being a landlord. Could make for a pretty entertaining thread ;)</p>
<p>Oh… the tales I could tell…starting with the tenant who conducted a religious fire cleansing ceremony, complete with loin clothed priest in full trance and facial paint…started fire in turkey roasting pan on carpeted living room floor…in a building which had tenants traumatized by a previous fire…tenant proceeded to scream at first responders to turn of the %^&^% fire alarms because she was almost done. Same person had moved her parents and sister into unit after divorce so family could help care for newborn. Yes, we evicted her, even after tearful promises to never hold a fire ceremony again. I figured we could still be in for a surprise during ‘water cleansing’ time…I could see her turning on the bath tub water and leaving for the weekend!</p>
<p>Best laugh of the day was when another tenant wanted to know why SHE had gotten a fireplace (saw wood logs being taking into unit) and when was THEIR fireplace being installed. Yup, ya can’t make this stuff up.</p>
<p>Still…laughing all the way to the bank…may write a book when the empty nest kicks in.</p>
<p>For those that are current owner of rental home, how do you go about getting credit and background checks on potential tenants? We have a home that my husband and son own in the city where my son has been in medical school. I imagine the house is not going to sell, so we are looking to rent until housing picks up as my son is leaving the city. Because this will be our only rental property, and we may not be using a management company, I am unsure of how best to get the background and credit check.</p>
<p>I see online of few companies that can do this for us, but I hate to just pick one out of the blue. Any suggestions appreciated.</p>
<p>Our Realty Company has a special person assigned to do this, it costs $35 per application. If you are using a RE agent, he should be doing this for you. If you are doing it DIY, call those online companies and find out where do they get the credit info. Basically there are three major credit reporting agencies, Trans Union, Equifax and one skips my mind. Don’t worry about the service, just make sure the reports are from either of those three major reporting companies.</p>
<p>We just signed the lease with the prospect. The dog is a Maltese or Shih Tzu type dog, property manager is not exactly sure which. She said she will meet the dog sometime when she collects the pet deposit. The dog is with the tenant’s parents right now. </p>
<p>He is moving in a hurry because he is coming from another town and haven’t found a place he liked so far. </p>
<p>Income and employment was verified by last year’s tax returns and employment letter from company, which was $47,000 last year and not $5,700 a month. </p>
<p>He assured us he will not practice his music in the apartment. </p>
<p>He has zero credit score because he does not have any credit cards. </p>
<p>His misdemeanor fines were paid up and in the process of being expunged (no further details).</p>
<p>After about 4 or 5 months, the tenant lost his job, couldn’t pay rent, keep making excuses and did not want to move. About 3 months later, after hiring a lawyer to evict, the place is still vacant. I estimate the loss to be about 40% of annual income. </p>
<p>I am heading to Florida to get away from the cold, too bad the place has no furniture, we could have lived there and saved some money renting another place. Sigh.</p>
<p>OTOH, we received an unsolicited offer on one of our rentals for about 12% more we thought the property was worth. So baring the buyer walking away from his $50,000 deposit, we just sold a property. </p>
<p>So, hopefully being a landlord is worth it in the end.</p>