Those who have a tenant

can you answer some questions please???



1) How long did it take to find a tenant?

2) Did you advertise yourself or use a real estate agent?

3) If you advertised yourself where did you advertise?

4) What did you require upfront? 1 month security? First and last months rent? etc?

5) Did you notice a drastic change in your utilities bills?

6) Do you charge extra for anything? Cable? A/C? etc

sorry added a few more
7) Did you do background/reference/employment checks?

8) Do you accept cash, checks, money orders?

Thanks!

Message edited 11/20/2007 8:39:02 AM.

Re: Those who have a tenant

I placed an ad in the local papers and on craigs list. We received severals calls pretty quickly. I took 1st, last and security at the time the lease was signed. Our rent included cable electric and heat. I did however raise it a lil this winter becuase the price of oil will be rising.

We posted for a tenant as soon as we moved in, so I did not have any past bills to see if my bills increased a lot each month. So far so good for us...and it is almost 2 years!

Message edited 11/20/2007 8:35:32 AM.

Re: Those who have a tenant

We placed an ad in Newsday (and went through a realtor who didn't bring us anyone)

We started looking in November and didn't REALLY look over the holidays - but found our tenants and they moved in mid-march. There were a ton of people interested - none who I felt comfortable with sharing my house. Then our tenants came (MegsM3 and her husband) and we liked them so much we lowered the price 200.

I have noticed a slight increase in utilities. We asked for one months security and first months rent.

We don't charge extra for anything - they are the best tenants ever and we got SOOOO lucky!

My only advice is to be selective - if you are sharing your home with this person!

Good luck!

ETA: I Forgot I put it up on Craigslist too -- that brought me a ton of wackos!

Message edited 11/20/2007 8:39:13 AM.

Re: Those who have a tenant

thanks!

anyone else?

Re: Those who have a tenant

Jennifer,

Not a landlord, but we were renting.

How long did it take to find a tenant? Our landlord advertised on the pennysaver online thing (he said he got a number of calls)

2) Did you advertise yourself or use a real estate agent? I'd say try first w/o the real estate agent..then you can make appts at your leisure & not have to worry about commission.

3) If you advertised yourself where did you advertise? Try newsday online or pennysaver online or craigslist or on here!!!

4) What did you require upfront? 1 month security? They required 1 month's security (technically it is supposed to be put in an interest bearing account)

5) Did you notice a drastic change in your utilities bills? can't answer this

6) Do you charge extra for anything? Cable? A/C? etc. We paid our own cable (but if its spliced from yours, which ours was originally, they included it). We gave them $50 extra for AC for the entire summer

sorry added a few more
7) Did you do background/reference/employment checks? They asked us for 2 references but then never called.

8) Do you accept cash, checks, money orders? They accepted cash, but then we started paying by check to have a record. I heard though that you could then be held liable for taxable income.

Re: Those who have a tenant

One more thing to add to the above response - you won't have to pay the real estate agent - the tenant pays the fee.

Re: Those who have a tenant

mom has one (legal apartment in huntigton township)

she went to a realtor, so they would be responsible for checking credit rating, background, and refs......
she had to keep on top of her realtor, since they didn't give put in too much effort. They did advertize in several places...
Within a 2-3 months or so, the lease was signed.

I can't recall how much she requested for escrow.... something like 1.5 months rent?

cable / utilites are included, and she did notice a slight increase in her utilities.... but she still profits significantly.

her tennant pays with a personal check.

Re: Those who have a tenant

realtor did it. It's out of state so that was the best bet.

They did all the background and income checks for us.

So far, so good.

In AZ, we had to pay the one month fee, but it was worth it. I didn't have any downtime on renting it.