Torn between two prospective tenants !

[TerryF]

Would love opinions on this situation:We have a 3 bedroom house for rent in Calgary, advertised on Kijiji, and got many responses. Everyone who wanted to see the house had to first give us a completed `rental application form`, and were also advised we would do a credit check. This approach works wonders for weeding out applicants. Either they weed themselves out or we do, if the information isn`t strong enough on the form.

So after 6 days, we chose 2 applicants to see the home and they both love it and want to rent it. We liked both applicants also and they are both similar in credit reports, previous landlord references, income. Both applicants have well paying jobs and there is no reason to believe either one would have problems paying the rent.

The differences are:

Applicant #1:

4 Adults (2 couples), and a one year old child. Non-smokers, no pets, mid to late 20`s.


Applicant #2:

2 Adults (couple) mid 20`s, and a younger brother (early 20`s) who may or may not stay the duration of the lease. No children, but a small, very well behaved dog (we met the dog). All three are smokers but do not smoke inside where they live now, and say they will not smoke inside in our house either. Good credit reports, scores slightly lower than Applicant #1 but lower overall debt.

Both really want the house and both will be terribly disappointed if they don`t get it. Ability to pay rent is not a concern with either couple. So it comes down to which applicant would be easier on the house: 4 adults and 1 year old child, or 2 - 3 adults and a small dog. Which one would you pick?

Thanks for any feedback!
Terry

 

[EdRenkema]

QUOTE (TerryF @ Jul 20 2008, 04:09 PM) Would love opinions on this situation:We have a 3 bedroom house for rent in Calgary, advertised on Kijiji, and got many responses. Everyone who wanted to see the house had to first give us a completed `rental application form`, and were also advised we would do a credit check. This approach works wonders for weeding out applicants. Either they weed themselves out or we do, if the information isn`t strong enough on the form.

So after 6 days, we chose 2 applicants to see the home and they both love it and want to rent it. We liked both applicants also and they are both similar in credit reports, previous landlord references, income. Both applicants have well paying jobs and there is no reason to believe either one would have problems paying the rent.

The differences are:

Applicant #1:

4 Adults (2 couples), and a one year old child. Non-smokers, no pets, mid to late 20`s.


Applicant #2:

2 Adults (couple) mid 20`s, and a younger brother (early 20`s) who may or may not stay the duration of the lease. No children, but a small, very well behaved dog (we met the dog). All three are smokers but do not smoke inside where they live now, and say they will not smoke inside in our house either. Good credit reports, scores slightly lower than Applicant #1 but lower overall debt.

Both really want the house and both will be terribly disappointed if they don`t get it. Ability to pay rent is not a concern with either couple. Which one would you pick?

Thanks for any feedback!
Terry


Terry,

Congratulations on finding and screening successful applicants.
For me to give feedback fairly I have to remove my bias against smokers and look again. This isn`t a moral judgement rather based on factual analysis, smokers will invariably leave butts - if they don`t their friends will, I live half a block from traffic lights and the smokers all flick their butts on my driveway and lawn as if the world was their ashtray. Even w/out considering this variable I would go w/ the 4 adults and one child once I consider the pet, again no matter how well behaved, animals do tend to leave things behind that humans will clean up, its a foregone conclusion. I like dogs but believe they deserve to have room and freedom to roam. My next door neighbour is 10 ft away and has a small dog that has infinite energy for running and barking at the slightest noise, he`s a cute little guy but very obnoxious and she`s in her eighties and cannot walk the animal enough to burn off the energy it has - so again I`m biased.
I hope my feedback helps, good luck.

 

[SomchayYau]

Hi Terry,

Just like Ed`s post, I have a bias against smokers. We had a tenant that smoked, and even though she smoked outside, there were still butts left thrown on the ground all over the property. When she left, the entire unit smelled of smoke. Another tenant we had was not allowed to smoke inside the house at all, but they ended up smoking in it anyway. My cleaners had to work tremedously hard to clean up the place. Cigarette butts and ashes in various places, and the smoke smell was everywhere.

I like pets however. There are lots of loving responsible owners out there. As for children, there are likely to be spills and such. A single mom we rented to left the carpet with spills and stains. So I guess it depends on how responsible and clean the parents are.

Good luck on finding the right family!
Somchay

 

[jscipioni]

Hi Terry,

Congratulations!!! Your situation is enviable.
My suggestion ..... buy another house

Joe Scipioni

 

[mcgregok]

Wow! What a choice. Couples or smokers and a dog. Couples split up and pets cause many problems (to many to mention) Why don`t you advertise for a couple , non-smokers and no pets. I also use KIJIJI and have no problem renting to single couples with good incomes. I also alow one small child.

 

[RedlineBrett]

I would take the two couples. They will keep the property cleaner as they have a child in the house and do not smoke. I agree with the poster that said that smokers leave butts... they do on the patios and the smoke smell finds it`s way into the home.


QUOTE (mcgregok @ Jul 20 2008, 06:53 PM) Wow! What a choice. Couples or smokers and a dog. Couples split up and pets cause many problems (to many to mention) Why don`t you advertise for a couple , non-smokers and no pets. I also use KIJIJI and have no problem renting to single couples with good incomes. I also alow one small child.

 

[Ficaccio]

Hi there,

My name is Madeleine and I am a Diamond REIN member. I would likely go with the 4 adults and 1 child (although a child can be as hard on a house as a small dog at times depending on the cleanliness of the parents) - but in this situation, I would charge higher rent for additional wear and tear on the house. When we have accepted this many people, we have charged up to $200/month additional.

When applying, tenants often say they will smoke outside, but after they move in, often it leads to them smoking inside. So, the only time I will rent to smokers and dogs is if I need to fill hard-to-rent suites, ones I haven`t renovated or as a strategy in a slow rental market.

Good luck with your new tenants,

Madelene Ficaccio
The VEA Group Inc.
[email protected]

 

[invst4profit]

Tough choice. For myself I have a strict no pets policy however if I had to chose I would take the dog in this case. Your other choice is actually to take in 2 families with small child - not as stable a group in my opinion. Could one couple afford to stay if the other left. Also believe a young child is very demanding and can be a serious distraction in regards to maintaining the house. If you do take in the two couples make sure they are all on the lease. That way if one couple leaves they are still on the hook for the rent. May be possible to split the rent and have each responsible for half.
If I did take in the smokers I would demand that they not smoke on the property and monitor it very closely. If it is allowed I would take a large deposit regardless of which I chose in these two cases.

To be compleatly honest I don`t like either choice.

 

[TerryF]

Thanks everyone who gave their opinions! We decided to rent to the 2 couples with one year old child. One of the couples (with the child), is relocating from Eastern Canada and will not likely stay the entire lease time. We are okay with that as the other couple (childless), intend to be the only people in the house eventually and can easily pay the rent. In the meantime, there is easily enough room as one couple lives up, and the other lives down.

The couple with the dog and younger brother we think would have been okay but as some of you pointed out, the smoking outside can sometimes becomes smoking inside, especially if it`s winter or raining, or just plain laziness. The dog seemed just great, but it`s hard to tell in a short visit so overall we figured this couple was the bigger risk. We would have charged extra if we had rented to them and they were okay with that, but in the end we just couldn`t do it.

I must admit I find this part of landlording very hard. I know how badly the other couple wanted to rent the house - they loved it and it was perfect for them - and it kills me to give such disappointing news.

Next time, I will think about narrowing down the options, (no smokers, no pets, one couple/1 child max. or whatever, but then I wonder if I am reducing the pool of eligible applicants too much. Our ad this time got a LOT of responses, but in the end we only showed to these two applicants. If the ad is narrower yet, will we find anyone to show the place to?? I`ve also noticed that there are other homes very similar to ours that go unrented after weeks of advertising. Are they being too picky? I prefer to be a bit more flexible in who I will rent to, in order to get the response, but then do a very thorough screening before they see the house.

Overall, I`m happy how things worked out and confident that we chose good tenants.

Thanks to all of you who gave me your opinion. It helped a lot.

Terry