All Forum Posts by: Jeff Goldstein

Thanks for all the replies! I hadn't even thought about a reservation fee that turns into the security deposit. It would definitely make me feel better about taking the property off of the market and renting to someone a month away from moving in.

I am having them sign a one year lease. I did not handle my situation optimally. Apparently (several landlords have told me), I should have been showing the unit while it was being renovated so that tenants who are looking 2-6 weeks out would be able to get an idea what the unit would be like. That way, I wouldn't be faced with having to carry the vacant property for another month, since I started showing the property after it was completely move-in ready. Oh well, definitely a lesson that I learned for the future!

So, this is my first time doing a formal process for finding a tenant for our rental property. We had always found friends in the past, but won't go that route again. Anyways, we have had several applications on the property and most of the applicants have been woefully unqualified by our not so crazy metrics. However, we recently had an applicant who looks to be great based on their history. Unfortunately, they are on a month-to-month lease at their current residence and therefore want the lease to start June 1st.

Since this is the first time we have dealt with a ready to go vacant unit, what is the normal lead time between approving a tenant and having the lease start? I've heard that if they are ready to move in tomorrow, that can be a red flag and having them move-in in a month isn't that atypical. I hate the idea of having it sitting there vacant for a month, however, the applicant says that they won't give notice until they have a lease (which makes sense to me).

Sorry, I'm probably rambling on, but I just want to make sure we make the correct decision. Thanks.

Thanks for all the replies. To offer some more information, going rent in my area is $1,200 - $1,300 for townhouses (~ 1650 square feet). Not sure if that is low or mid end, definitely not high end. I just finished repainting the entire unit and new carpet goes in this week. All in all, the unit looks very clean and is in neutral colors, which is why mismatched appliances might stand out more. We don't have an exit strategy at the moment, as we plan for this to be a long term rental (unless market conditions change significantly).

We have a rental property that is about to be rented out again. All of the appliances are white and the oven is on it's last legs. I've read plenty of support for purchasing SS for rentals, but what about just one? I figured that I could replace the white appliances with SS as needed, but my wife feels that appliances that don't match will be a big turn off. Thoughts? The appliances will never ALL need to be replaced at once, so I either get rid of perfectly good appliances (I suppose I could sell them), have mismatched appliances, or stick with white. What have others done?