Rental Property Investor · Seattle, WA · Member since 2014 · 1k+ posts · 1k+ votes
I've seen it for almost every rental. Rentals ranging from 500K to 750K in value. 2.5 to 4K in rent.
People show up with absolutely atrociously misbehaved kids. It's always just ONE kid, never people with multiple. The kid will run and jump on furniture, jump up and down on vents, pull drawers all the way out to the floor. The parents do nothing to stop it. If anything they just look at me and smile while I glare at them.
One time the guys kid as they were leaving (this was after he proceeded to use my furniture and bed as a trampoline and chase my terrified cats) started to run to jump on the dinning room table. I was able to block him in time. The casper milk toast father gave me a disapproving look. YOU'RE IN MY HOUSE MF, YOUR KIDS WILL BEHAVE OR GET OUT.
The first part of the same sentence where I talked about my cats, I noted the kids were jumping on my furniture and such, but all you picked up on was the cats???
"this was after he proceeded to use my furniture and bed as a trampoline and chase my terrified cats"
Rental Property Investor · Member since 2020 · 1k+ posts · 1k+ votes
6y
This post leaves me with questions, I've haven't seen wild kids yet for the showing but have heard stories from neighbors of how one of the kids were that moved in. Are you house hacking or do you do short term/ furnished rentals because it seems strange that wild families are at your house. You also post that the houses have ranges in value which makes it seem like more than one which leads me to believe that we are talking about more than one house. While the stories were entertaining and I have no doubt that some people have encountered children that need to lay off the mountain dew I am left with curiosity of your encounters.
Haha. This reminds me of a showing that went so poorly that I named the guy "no" and his wife "no 2" in my phone just so I wouldn't accidentally answer if they called again (after stupidly answering and responding to several texts and calls up to finally having that moment of clarity).
Kid ran around an empty house I was showing and was being completely unruly. I've never seen anyone count to "5" instead of "3" before, but these people did. Even stopped at "4 and a half". It took all I had to not make an audible gasp at that point.
They eventually told him that they weren't taking him for pizza (or whatever) on the way home, but he lost it so completely at that point that they immediately backed down and said that he'd have to start acting better, but it would be ok and they would go. Unreal.
He ended up breaking a sprinkler head in front of all of us. The truly insane part is that they truly thought I was going to rent to them. They were trying to bribe me by paying 6 months in advance with cash, etc. They kept calling and texting me and asking why I wouldn't rent to them. Ultimately, the wife insisted that I confirm that I didn't choose them because they didn't have perfect credit. I didn't have the heart to tell her that I never even bothered to check their credit.
They were out-of-towners and I remember thinking that I couldn't punish my nice, little town by bringing these people into it. I don't think I'd be able to buy groceries or show my face in town if I'd chosen them... Good times!
The first part of the same sentence where I talked about my cats, I noted the kids were jumping on my furniture and such, but all you picked up on was the cats???
"this was after he proceeded to use my furniture and bed as a trampoline and chase my terrified cats"
I'm sorry, I was completely distracted by the cats reference as well.
As others have requested, please offer some context. It may be relevant...
Rental Property Investor · Boston, Massachusetts (MA) · Member since 2016 · 2k+ posts · 2k+ votes
6y
@Jack B. One thing to remember...moving is incredibly stressful for kids. Running around a place and being disruptive is a fear reaction to a massive change.
Not saying the parents shouldn’t have a handle on it (counting to 4.5 reminds me of the rabbit in Monty Python and the holy grail) and its their reaction I’d be judging to. But cut the kids some slack
Oh, it was the parents for sure, but you still made me feel guilty! haha.
Honestly, thinking back on it as it's been a few years, one thing that stands out now that didn't stand out as much then was the guy trying to bribe me with 6 months cash in advance. Just the way he went about it rubbed me so wrong. It felt like in his head he was buying me or something. He wasn't like "hey, I can even pay you 6 months in advance if you're worried about anything and think that can help." It was much more dismissive than that.
Plus, we've never had too much trouble getting paid our rent (it happens, but it's not something I lay awake worrying about - at least pre-corona) so he was essentially trying to bribe me with buttons and a ball of yarn for all I was concerned. I mean, if you want to bribe me, do it with extra money, not money I'm gonna get in the next few months anyway.
In the end though, I do feel a little bad now that you point out the kid thing, but not enough to stop me from plugging that old phone back in and looking for that old text string.
Rental Property Investor · Boston, Massachusetts (MA) · Member since 2016 · 2k+ posts · 2k+ votes
6y
@Chris John that caught my eye too and I agree it’s not a good sign. I go by the theory that people are never as nice and well behaved than when looking...so if that was the attitude upfront was only going to get worse.
Rental Property Investor · Sioux Falls, SD · Member since 2015 · 9k+ posts · 18k+ votes
6y
I am also curious about the cats. Did you bring them with or are you renting out your own property that has been owner occupied?
As far as misbehaved kids, it is 100% a reflection of the parents. I have seen people with five kids and every single one is calm and well behaved. Any time I have rented to someone with wild kids, the property had significant damage when they moved out. Responsible parents control their kids and they pay rent on time. If they make no attempt to control them, that is an even worse sign.
I think it very much depends on the age of the kids. A 3 year old-perhaps, but the parents should be able to control the kid (by that I mean not have them jump on things) or have one of them wait outside with the kid while the kid runs around the yard. Older kids-7 or 8-nope sorry, they should know how to behave at other people's house.
Rockaway, NJ · Member since 2016 · 2k+ posts · 2k+ votes
6y
It sounds to me like you are about to rent out your first property (I'm assuming you live in the unit youre advertising)
If that's the case, you may not be screening well enough. You should do some pre-screening before you let just anybody come look at the property.
Rental Property Investor · Boston, Massachusetts (MA) · Member since 2016 · 2k+ posts · 2k+ votes
6y
@Theresa Harris oh that’s true—but just saying that melt downs happen in stressful situations and a meltdown isn’t an indication of bad parenting and it’s a false negative for a good tenancy. Kids at 7-8 know their life is changing and they aren’t happy about it sometimes :)
BUT BUT BUT how are the parents reacting? Are they passive? Do they move him outside quickly ? Do they try some combination of reinforcing “behavior in other people’s houses” and limits? Are they kind when they are being firm? Are they setting limits at all? Do they threaten immediately or have coping skills? do they blame him not look at themselves? Can’t tell you how many hungry kids I’ve seen at open houses...
@Theresa Harris oh that’s true—but just saying that melt downs happen in stressful situations and a meltdown isn’t an indication of bad parenting and it’s a false negative for a good tenancy. Kids at 7-8 know their life is changing and they aren’t happy about it sometimes :)
BUT BUT BUT how are the parents reacting? Are they passive? Do they move him outside quickly ? Do they try some combination of reinforcing “behavior in other people’s houses” and limits? Are they kind when they are being firm? Are they setting limits at all? Do they threaten immediately or have coping skills? do they blame him not look at themselves? Can’t tell you how many hungry kids I’ve seen at open houses...
Their reaction is the real “tell”.
Exactly. We all know when you are in the store, you can tell who missed their nap time from their behaviour and their parent's reaction vs who is a holy terror.
Contractor · Nashville, TN · Member since 2014 · 1k+ posts · 1k+ votes
6y
One time right after a noisy, rambunctious showing, the kid asked his mom if he could use the bathroom and he runs back into my unit. Takes a big ol' dump, doesn't flush, and I never see any of them again. The utilities hadn't been turned on yet. It was there a few days.
Definitely a nightmare day. I think if that happened and at that point you need to make a decision to let the parents know about the situation. Im thinking from the parents point of view, maybe they are younger parents in their earlier 20’s and may not have a lot of discipline by their own parents. And now trying to grow up, have absolutely no control over their own kids. There definitely a deeper root cause of why the kids is the way that kids is. It’s unfortunate but if you have a situation like that, tell the parents! Maybe they need to really hear it from another adult. Sometimes hearing things like that opens their eyes to what is really happening.
Rental Property Investor · Severn, MD · Member since 2013 · 12 posts · 8 votes
6y
Just tell the kid to knock it off, but tactfully. It doesn't matter if the kid is 2 or 12. I don't mind parenting other people's kids if the parents aren't going to do it. Protect your property first.
@Allan Smith That's pretty funny. Gross, but funny. One of our rental nightmare stories (there's a LOT to this story I'm leaving out) involves at least one of those on the family room floor. :(
@Percy Matsunaga and @John W. You guys are brave. If I'm never going to see someone again, there kids can do most anything without me saying a word. Although, John W., you make a good point about property destruction (at least my property destruction...). I didn't see my sprinkler head coming... haha.
Rental Property Investor · MI · Member since 2018 · 51 posts · 64 votes
6y
@Jack B. My husband and I are investors and have had to bring our three kids to multiple showings to buy properties.... everyone’s kids misbehave sometimes (investors and renters alike). At least for our kids it seems that there’s high pressure to behave and the fact that they aren’t supposed to touch anything is hard.
The first part of the same sentence where I talked about my cats, I noted the kids were jumping on my furniture and such, but all you picked up on was the cats???
"this was after he proceeded to use my furniture and bed as a trampoline and chase my terrified cats"
I'm sorry, I was completely distracted by the cats reference as well.
As others have requested, please offer some context. It may be relevant...
In one example it was a primary residence I was moving out of and converting to a rental, I was doing tours while waiting for my new house to close. In two other cases it was a vacant and empty house, two different houses. In all cases the people thought I would still rent to them...
It sounds to me like you are about to rent out your first property (I'm assuming you live in the unit youre advertising)
If that's the case, you may not be screening well enough. You should do some pre-screening before you let just anybody come look at the property.
Ummmm...in my very first sentence, the very beginning of it eve, I noted that I've had this happen for almost every single rental, as in I have a few...I even gave rent and value ranges for the properties....
So not sure how you'd come to that conclusion unless you either didn't read my post or didn't understand any of it.
"I've seen it for almost every rental. Rentals ranging from 500K to 750K in value. 2.5 to 4K in rent."
@Theresa Harris oh that’s true—but just saying that melt downs happen in stressful situations and a meltdown isn’t an indication of bad parenting and it’s a false negative for a good tenancy. Kids at 7-8 know their life is changing and they aren’t happy about it sometimes :)
BUT BUT BUT how are the parents reacting? Are they passive? Do they move him outside quickly ? Do they try some combination of reinforcing “behavior in other people’s houses” and limits? Are they kind when they are being firm? Are they setting limits at all? Do they threaten immediately or have coping skills? do they blame him not look at themselves? Can’t tell you how many hungry kids I’ve seen at open houses...
Their reaction is the real “tell”.
Yeah and that's what I was saying in my OP, the parents just look at me and smile, doing nothing to stop their kids. I'm like, no way I'm letting you people into my house again.
I am also curious about the cats. Did you bring them with or are you renting out your own property that has been owner occupied?
As far as misbehaved kids, it is 100% a reflection of the parents. I have seen people with five kids and every single one is calm and well behaved. Any time I have rented to someone with wild kids, the property had significant damage when they moved out. Responsible parents control their kids and they pay rent on time. If they make no attempt to control them, that is an even worse sign.
One time it was a primary I was converting to a rental and showing while I was still living there. Two others were different rentals I had bought as investments. I'm sure I will see it at a tour for all of my properties at some point.
My favorite are the people who want to run a day care out of the house...Not only no but HELL no...
New York, NY · Member since 2020 · 5 posts · 0 votes
6y
@Jack B. I need to look this up, but do you have to give a reason for not accepting tenants based on anything other than their kids? Would saying that you don't like their kids violate fair housing laws or is it ok to say... Because of their kids, you don't think they will make good tenants? I know in this case, you went with their credit score.