Prospective Tenant Want Me To Hold Property 1 Month Before Move-In

[Rebecca Mickler]

Hello all,

I'm relatively new to REI and getting ready to re-lease my first rental property after a 3 year tenant. My management company sent me an email stating they had a "very qualified applicant" for my property. The prospective tenant, however, doesn't want the lease to start until May 8th. There have been several other inquiries on the property. The management company said they typically require a $250 hold fee to hold the property, but as long as the tenants signs the lease/moves in, the $250 is credited towards the first month's rent (it defaults to me if they bail, but the mortgage is $830). That leaves me footing the mortgage for a month when I could only pay 1-2 weeks if a different tenant were approved. Is that standard practice? My instinct tells me to require a non-refundable 1/2 month to hold it but I don't want to scare the "very qualified" tenant away. It doesn't seem advantageous to me from a business sense to eat a month's mortgage if I don't have to. What would you do? TIA for any advice! RebeccaM