Some thoughts I’ve had lately about being a renter in today’s real estate market.
Landlords usually do a credit check and sometimes even a background check on prospective tenants. If I was a prospective tenant, I think I’d ask the landlord for a credit check on him/her in return. You probably don’t need (and won’t get) a credit check on your landlord, but some information is worth asking for.
Why? Many, many landlords are renting their home because they couldn’t sell it. It’s possible that the rent paid by the tenant doesn’t cover the landlord’s mortgage. If I’m a tenant, I want to know that the landlord is covering that gap, and doing so comfortably. That way, I don’t get a Notice taped to “my” front door one day telling me I have to move out because the house is going to the foreclosure auctions.
I think I’d also ask them if this is their first time being a landlord. If it is, I might want to spend some time talking about hypotheticals:
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what is the fair thing to do if the A/C breaks in July?
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what is the fair thing to do if the water has to be shut off for a day? for two days? three days?
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is there a home warranty in place? if so, who pays for the service call fee when the home warranty is used to fix minor broken things around the house?
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how often does the landlord plan on coming over to inspect things? will s/he give notice before hand? If so, how much notice?
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Who’s supposed to change the A/C filters inside the house and how often?
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Does the landlord keep a key to the house while I’m living in it?
I’m not sure there’s a standard, “right” answer to any of those questions. But – particularly me, as a woman living alone – I’d want to know if my landlord lived in town and kept a key to the house I was planning to live in. I’d probably want to know that too, if I was a parent with small children in the house.
Many tenants work with Realtors to find their next rental home. If you’re looking to rent, I’d recommend it. Personally, Chris and I don’t usually handle rentals. But our broker Thompson’s Realty has a Realtor on-staff that handles rentals all the time, both landlord-side and tenant-side.
If you’re looking to rent, shoot us an email and we’ll hook you up with the Thompson’s Realty landlord & tenant Realtor professional. Or visit them online at SpectrumGroupAZ.com
Heather Barr is a Realtor. She's a chow hound, a gym rat, and a political junkie and a happy workaholic.
Tagged as:
Rentals
Real life observation: women who go to the gym in a full face of makeup with their hair done just so. . . . they crack me up.
This has nothing at all to do with real estate.
Or. . . does it?
Many of the buyers we’ve worked with in the past 2 years or so are shopping in the lower price ranges. Single family homes with 3 bedrooms and 1 or 2 baths. Price range is about $70,000 to $100,000.
Inevitably the selection of houses we see includes something just like the two homes below.
Home Number One
The Realtor’s description reads like this -
A/C replaced 2 years ago, new roof in 2009 with transferable warranty, water heater only 5 years old. Exterior painted last month. Seller will buy 2-year home warranty. This home has been well cared for by original owner. Price reduced to $105,000!
This house has pictures like these:
. . . and it looks like this from the front:
.
Then there’s the other option. . .
Home Number Two
Inside, it looks like this:
But it looks like this on the outside:
. . . and the Realtor description on this house says something like this:
Complete remodel! Travertine floors, maple cabinets, stainless steel appliances. New carpet, new paint. Seller will not issue Disclosure Statement about condition or provide CLUE insurance history. Ready to move in at $97,900.
Home number one has all the fundamentals dealt with. The big-ticket, expensive items to replace have all been replaced. The cosmetics are, well, to be kind: dated.
Home number two is an obvious investor fix and flip. The investor just completed a total overhaul of the house but refuses to provide a disclosure statement listing what he or she knows about it. Nice! Plus, that chain link fence in the front makes me reach for the eye bleach. I guess the seller’s message here is “we don’t really like our neighbors much” ?
It’s the curse of The Shiny
Guess which house the majority of buyers make an offer on? Home number 2.
Buyers get stars in their eyes over the fancy, shiny interior remodel and forget that they’re buying a home they know nothing about that could possibly need a roof, A/C unit and water heater in the first couple years of ownership. Plus miscellaneous plumbing &/or electrical problems as yet unknown, because even the best home inspection can’t possibly uncover everything.
Sure, the interior cosmetics of home number 1 are dated. It looks like the Brady Bunch just moved out. I get that. I do, I really do. I don’t want to live in the Brady house anymore than my buyers do.
I just can’t help feeling that I’m not really doing my job 100% when I can’t convince the average buyer to consider for more than a few fleeting moments the incalculable value of a house with the big-ticket stuff already paid for. Even if it’s an extra $7,000 in purchase price and has 15 year old cabinets and counters… The value of having a new roof, A/C and water heater are nearly priceless to cash-strapped first time homebuyers.
Too many home buyers act like the star-struck middle-aged men at the gym: so blinded by The Shiny of a middle-aged woman in Kabuki makeup and a fancy hairstyle they can’t focus on anything else. Not even their own good.
edited to add links below
What is a Seller’s Disclosure Statement?
What is a CLUE insurance report? (scroll down a bit in the article linked here, to about 1/3 of the way through the article)
Heather Barr is a Realtor. She's a chow hound, a gym rat, and a political junkie and a happy workaholic.
Tagged as:
Economics. Home Improvement,
Personal Finance
