Prospective tenant wants six month lease

[Allen Collier]

This is my first property, and my first prospective tenant. They will be listing their home in another State next month. Currently, the wife just moved here as her husband has been in the area working. They are in an apartment right now. They want a six month lease, which will put it out to October. How would you guys handle this? Would you increase rent to compensate for shorter lease term?

[Rob Rothman]

Negotiate a higher monthly rent for the lease, have the lease option to go month-to-month after the initial 6 months. The key here is that she is pregnant and due around October. She won't want to move either just before or just after having the baby so they will likely stay for a few more months. And nobody likes to move in the snow so if your area gets snow in Winter they probably won't want to move until Spring. In Dayton Ohio the only really slow time for rentals is around Christmas through the first week of January and late June through mid August.