All Forum Posts by: David Stumpf

Oral agreement.  Who knows, that fence might not be that important to them in 12 months.  What if they would rather have a deck for the same cost? It will be written into the lease renewal.  The idea is to make good tenants, long term tenants.  I don't like the idea of making changes to a property to appease an applicant.  However, I will improve a property if it improves value to the home and helps secures a good tenant from moving.

Keep showing to property until you have a deposit with a Deposit to Hold agreement.  Don't stop accepting applications if someone agrees to rent but hasn't put any money down.  With the 3rd tenant asking for a fence, I typically let them know I will to install a fence (or any other upgrade that I'm not ready to do that will increase value) if and when the lease is renewed.  Most of the time they understand and agree and you have a better chance of them turning into a long term tenant.  $5k is a lot of fence though.   

I still disagree with tenant turnover in January.  Most prudent people don't plan to move in the dead of winter unless it is an emergency (people being evicted and will not show up on record for a few months).

@Yunzhi Huang that's tough. I probably wouldn't accept either one if it were me. At first they both look great but once you remove the emotion and look at numbers it doesn't look good to me. The first is only staying for 6 months and even though your getting more rent, is it worth it after you have to turn it over in the middle of winter, middle of the school year for families. Your applicant pool will probably look much worse that time of year. The elderly couple with a 430 credit score: if it is that bad then they are conditioned to pay bills late/never. They might pay off their bills will the sale money, they might pay rent with it, they might have over leveraged their house and are not getting at much as you think. When it comes to tenants paying bills, past performance is the best indicator of future results.

Seems like a pretty elaborate scheme for a couple of senior citizens collecting pensions. I would treat them like any other individual applying and see what comes up. Do they have any documentation of the identity theft? I doubt your dealing with Bonnie and Clyde here

Use the BP lease but like others said, explain that the lease is too protect you and your friend and only be used when diplomacy fails. Hopefully you don't post "Ex Friend becomes Ex Tenant" in your future.

@Jon Mason My theory is that the first "wave" of people are looking for a place that doesn't ask for applications and background checks which is why you don't hear back from them.

@Mike Franco check petscreening.com

Removing using any and all lease breaches/ failure to pay possible

I never understood why it is so hard to get renters to complete applications.  It seems most of them are just tire kickers and time wasters.  I require applications to be submitted before viewing the property.  This turns into a lot less showings but only showing to people who are serious about renting from you.  I think many people hope that they will get away  without completing an application and background check.

I looked into using Zillow applications but they don't ask nearly enough of give right questions for me to make a decision on an applicant.