All Forum Posts by: Danielle Hawkins

An applicant has applied to my rental property who meets all minimum requirements (credit score, clear background check, income requirements). However, she works for a grocery delivery company (Shipt), which somewhat concerns my husband and I, as we are unsure of whether or not this will be a stable industry post-covid.

She started this job in March 2020 at the start of the pandemic and was a stay-at-home mom for 10 years prior to this. Although she does meet our minimum requirements, we want to ensure she will have steady income throughout the 1-year lease. She seems to make different amounts each week/month, based on how much she works.

What would you do in this situation? Do you think grocery delivery will remain in demand post-covid? Would you approve this tenant?

@AJ Shepard thank you for your insight, I appreciate it! In Virginia, we are not required to disclose death on the property.

@Bjorn Ahlblad thanks for your advice! If we choose to pursue this, we will most likely try to drive down the price.

My husband and I are very interested in purchasing an 11 acre plot of land, which contains a single family dwelling. It is located in a prime location, we are confident it will appreciate quickly, is in a great school district, historically very low crime rate, etc. 

The catch: A homicide occurred on the land (not in the house) in 2003. The initial autopsy noted the cause of death as drowning in a small pond on the property; however, after further investigation in 2019 (yes, 16 years later), the cause of death was amended to homicide. Therefore, the case was reopened and the story was featured on the news 2 weeks ago, including a 9 minute interview with the deceased man's daughter. One news report noted investigators may even consider draining the small pond. 

Our ideal plan would be to rent out the house on the property for a few years and then build our forever/dream home on the land. Clearly, we would not plan on selling the property anytime soon. 

Our questions:  

1) Should the homicide be a red flag?  It did occur 17 years ago AND was not in the house, but the case was just recently reopened, so has the potential to cause us some headache, etc. 

2) If you have experienced death on your property, did you have trouble finding tenants?  

3) What would you do in our situation, considering this is an ideal plot of land and location to build our dream home on?