On the move every July and August
In physics, the state of entropy is when everything settles down. Brownian motion resists entropy. It is the movement caused when particles knock into one another and cause more movement. I think of this every summer as I see tenants moving around. Some are leaving town, some arriving. Some are trying to get a nicer place, some a cheaper one, some a nicer one at the same price or cheaper. Some want bigger, some want smaller. So, lots of people are in motion right now, bumping into one another on the stairway as the move in or out of an apartment.
Landlord-tenant relations are a lot like employer-employee ones. A good job interview goes both ways: the employee is checking out the job as much as the employer is checking out the job applicant. In the same way, landlords should be checking their tenants and tenants should be checking their landlords.
Here are some questions I ask my prospective tenants:Why are you leaving your last apartment? What made you choose this apartment? How long do you plan to stay? I run a credit check. I run a reference check including the current and former landlord, current and former employer.
When I was a tenant, I asked the landlord about how they want to be notified if something is wrong with the apartment. What kinds of problems do they want to know about right away? Whether they would be on site monthly to get a check or should I mail it? (This gave me lots of information about how much maintenance they intended to do and how often I would see them.) I talked to the people moving out whenever I could. I checked the landlord’s name in small-claims court. I talked to neighbors.
What do you do, as landlords? What do you do, as tenants?
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If possible, get a look at the prospective tenant's car inside and out. People usually keep their cars the same way they keep their homes. It makes no difference what kind of car the person drives, it's how they maintain it that's important... Trash lying around, bad smells, food remnants, cigarettes (if you care about smoking in your rental), and signs of obvious neglect are red flags.
I had a great landlady for the last four years and I have never seen her in person. Yet, she accepted my application to live here (and probably originally when my credit wasn't so steller), returned every phone call (big and small) and never raised the rent beyond a mere $10. She relied on the fabulous super to fix things and be the on-site person. I'm sure she knows she's lucky to have such a person keeping an eye on the place.
I was not nearly as informed a renter when I first moved into this building as I am now, about to move into my first home, but I'd like to think that I could spot issues and had some common sense. Mostly though, I think I just got lucky. I paid cheap rent to live within the city limits and never -thank god- had anything major happen to either the apartment or myself. When I read some of the horror stories about renting, I always have considered myself very lucky.
I do the usual checks - e-renter/employment verification - but mostly I rely on my instincts about people. I'm pretty good at sizing people up quickly, and I'm rarely taken by surprise or disappointed by unexpected behavior. If my "gut" says yes, and there's nothing troubling in my fact investigation, I will accept a renter. This has worked for me. Or maybe I've just been very lucky.
I do take my time selecting a tenant, though. I'm a resident landlord and I want a peaceful home.
The best check I've found as a tennant is look up the property on the Massachusetts Land Records website. This lets me know if the owner is current with taxes (eg, if their is a tax lien); current with their mortgage (eg, is their a bank lien); and an overall comprehensive financial picture of the owner. By checking the website every few months I can make sure my landlord is keeping current on their obligations and I won't be shown the door by a sheriff in a couple months.
I'd avoid new owners (less than a couple years of ownership) because they may have a misguided picture of the landlord-tennant relationship. I'd also avoid owners with Adjustable Rate Mortgages. Perhaps most importantly, I'd avoid renting from an owner that got a mortgage based upon checking the "owner occupied" box on their mortgage form.
Lance, never had trouble with tenants thanks to extensive vetting (necessary in Massachusetts where tenants have all the power), but the car idea never occurred to me. Brilliant.
"I'd also avoid owners with Adjustable Rate Mortgages."
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Where are you getting this information? My county does not include "type of mortgage" on the public deed information, and I can't imagine a landlord volunteering it. I wouldn't.
"I'd avoid new owners (less than a couple years of ownership) because they may have a misguided picture of the landlord-tennant relationship. "
Please elaborate. I agree in avoiding new landlords, but generally more because of lack of home repair skills. Wondering what other folk's take is.
SingleCommuter, Michael already told you the information comes from masslandrecords. You can look at the actual mortgage papers.
This blogger might want to review your comment before posting it.
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