LauraGB Posted November 6, 2010 Share Posted November 6, 2010 I'm helping our friends who just moved here find a rental, and craigslist seemed to be the most thorough and with pictures. So far, out of 5 inquiries, 3 are missionaries from Nigeria, 1 wanted them to do an immediate background check and give out their ss#, address, phone, email, past history, etc, and one seemed legitimate enough by stating the property was no longer available. I mean, seriously. How many missionaries from our area are stationed in Nigeria?! (okay, I know it's a scam, lol) And furthermore, what in the world do these people get from doing something like this? I understand the party with the background check - identity theft. But the Nigeria deal? :confused: One email said they would be back sometime within the next 5 years and would like to be able to stay there then, but no need to move out. LOL! And then we started talking about all the weirdos out there...and I have a question for renters. Is there someone for prospective renters, like an inspector for prospective home buyers, that goes in and inspects the home for mice, roaches, bugs, bad wiring, plumbing issues, etc? It would seem as though there should be. If there is, what are they called? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mama Geek Posted November 6, 2010 Share Posted November 6, 2010 When we were looking for poodles on one of the sites, I think it was pet finder we came across someone saying their friend with the dog was a nigerian missionary...sounds like the same scam. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cindergretta Posted November 6, 2010 Share Posted November 6, 2010 We rent through a property management company. It is the *only* way I will rent. I refuse to be at the whim of a homeowner who might do heaven only knows what. (Too many horror stories that have happened to friends of mine.) It is protection for me and protection for the homeowner. And they do make sure there are no infestations or leaks or malfunctions. It reflects poorly on their company if the homes are subpar. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kay in Cal Posted November 6, 2010 Share Posted November 6, 2010 Yep. I've found our last two homes (rental) on Craigslist. One time our landlord was an individual with several investment properties, but currently we rent from a property management company (our landlord lives out of state). We google mapped the homes and drove by before we called (often you can tell from the outside if you want to live there or not). We always had a tour of the home and met with the owner/manager before we turned in any paperwork, and I wouldn't ever hand over information in advance. At least here in So Cal, Craigslist is the go-to place to find homes as well as jobs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ailaena Posted November 6, 2010 Share Posted November 6, 2010 Is there someone for prospective renters, like an inspector for prospective home buyers, that goes in and inspects the home for mice, roaches, bugs, bad wiring, plumbing issues, etc? It would seem as though there should be. If there is, what are they called? I freaking wish. Actually, I'm sure you could pay someone to do it, but the landlords who had something to hide would go with the people who didn't do it. A cursory inspection while you are touring the home will probably be the best thing you can manage. Don't be afraid to turn on faucets, appliances and HVAC stuff. That said, I am currently sitting in my rental that I found on Craigslist. I was SOwary, especially since I was renting from another state, but it worked out! I will admit that some of the wiring in the house was done without a professional, and there are some minor things, but nothing totally unacceptable. And the landlords are super-nice. The one thing I did was search records for the owners of the house and make sure that the people renting the house WERE the owners. There have been scams where people show the house and collect the deposit, but are NOT owners/reps. I made my parents (who were kind enough to help out on this end) check an ID, which was awkward, at best. Believe me, I STRESSED about it until I was actually moved into the house (I am skeptical by nature:D). One of my hardfast rules is to NEVER give out very personal information EVER, EVER, EVER until my deposit is in their hands, I have verified that they are legit, and they specifically request it. My previous LL told me that it is quite against the rules to do a background check for the purposes of finding out if your tenant will be "safe", but of course people do it. Especially at this point in time when LLs may have been put in bad situations. Credit check, yes; background check, no. Even though I avoid them like the plague, a real estate or other property management agency may be a good idea for them. They will do formal checks and require 3x rent in income and all that jazz, but will (usually) come with maintenance and piece of mind. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
.... Posted November 6, 2010 Share Posted November 6, 2010 I own a rental house and I listed the house for rent on craigslist. I had a tenant within 4 hours. He was a great guy, too. He's still there. :) I also rent our current house (that we live in) and we found this one on craigslist too. No problems so far and it's been almost a year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
angelak Posted November 6, 2010 Share Posted November 6, 2010 We rent out a home in another state. Either we have gone to show the house or had a friend to show it. Then, if they are interested, we do a credit check. We do not use an agency. If we did then there would be an increase in rent. It is a nice house and immaculately kept house. It was our home that we decided to wait a few years to sell. We have found our last 2 tenants on Craigslist. We do not charge for credit checks. I would say definitely meet the owner and see the house before a credit check. We also like to meet the people who want to 'borrow' our home for awhile. Those Nigerian missionaries are the same ones that keep sending me emails about wanting to deposit $50 million in my account...all they need is my account number;) Angela Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
6packofun Posted November 6, 2010 Share Posted November 6, 2010 How do you find a rental management company? We need to find a place to live PRONTO. While I agree that there are some extra protections, none of those would have been enough to prevent our lives being turned upside down by the homeowner not being required to give us more than 30 days' notice to move out. Try moving a family of 8 out in 30 days after spending all your extra money and days off on vacation. Seriously. lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LauraGB Posted November 6, 2010 Author Share Posted November 6, 2010 How do you find a rental management company? We need to find a place to live PRONTO. While I agree that there are some extra protections, none of those would have been enough to prevent our lives being turned upside down by the homeowner not being required to give us more than 30 days' notice to move out. Try moving a family of 8 out in 30 days after spending all your extra money and days off on vacation. Seriously. lol That totally stinks :grouphug:. Good luck with the search. It's hard work. Our friends are in a situation where they are actually living in their van in his mother's driveway :sad: (although, I'm really only sort of sympathetic, to be honest, since their situation was brought upon by impulsiveness and inability to plan ahead), but it is just them and the dog - no kids or family to consider. I just didn't remember the search for a rental to be so riddled with...ick, I guess. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EarleneW Posted November 6, 2010 Share Posted November 6, 2010 We have rented 3 houses we found on Craigslist now- We have never had a problem. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
newbie Posted November 6, 2010 Share Posted November 6, 2010 we got in trouble, never again Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LauraGB Posted November 6, 2010 Author Share Posted November 6, 2010 we got in trouble, never again :bigear: If you can. And :grouphug:. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Janie Grace Posted November 6, 2010 Share Posted November 6, 2010 We had a realtor help us find our rental. He was a friend of a friend, but I think he does it quite often just to help him gain contacts. He was our extra pair of eyes on the quality of the rental and he negotiated with the rental agency for a lower rent. Something to look into, maybe. Our house was not listed on Craigslist, just on agency websites. About a month after we moved in, people started stopping by, asking to see it -- since it was "for rent" on Craigslist. Yup, someone had lifted the listing from the rental agency website and created a fake CG ad. "Just mail me a check for the deposit", etc. It got annoying -- I think about five different sets of people rang our bell asking about the place. Sure, a 3-bedroom home for $700 a month. Definitely too good to be true, in our area! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LauraGB Posted November 6, 2010 Author Share Posted November 6, 2010 Sure, a 3-bedroom home for $700 a month. Definitely too good to be true, in our area! Those are exactly the ones that are troublesome here, too! So now I get it - they will ask for the deposit ahead of time. I haven't rented in over 15 years, but even I would know better than to hand over several hundred dollars before I even had the chance to see the place. Wild. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
justlittleoldme Posted November 6, 2010 Share Posted November 6, 2010 At least here in So Cal, Craigslist is the go-to place to find homes as well as jobs. I've found all my jobs and our current rental on craigslist. When I was looking for our current rental, I had a form letter I copy and pasted to reply to any of the ads that had an email. If they replied with the address and the phone number of where the house was and where I could reach them to see the inside, I'd go see the house, inspect it for myself and talk to the owner to get their info too. We got a lot of the out of the country emails back too. After awhile you can tell by the ad if its legit or not. In Calif (not sure if your renting/looking in Calif, but I figured I'd put it out there) you can do a criminal background check on your renters. However, you can't discriminate against s*x offenders for being a s*x offender. You can have a selection policy that includes not renting to anyone with a felony, but you must deny everyone with a felony- whether it was tax evasion/robbery/etc. Good luck finding a rental! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
milovany Posted November 6, 2010 Share Posted November 6, 2010 I freaking wish. One of my hardfast rules is to NEVER give out very personal information EVER, EVER, EVER until my deposit is in their hands, I have verified that they are legit, and they specifically request it. My previous LL told me that it is quite against the rules to do a background check for the purposes of finding out if your tenant will be "safe", but of course people do it. Especially at this point in time when LLs may have been put in bad situations. Credit check, yes; background check, no. This must vary by location because it's completely NOT true here. I *only* do background checks, not credit checks, on our prospective tenants. And to do so, I collect driver's license number, social security number, birthdate and more. We belong to a statewide landlord's association that is very big on following the law, and they also (on the side) process our background checks. If they were against the law, the association wouldn't be doing them (or recommending background checks over credit checks). Just wanted to post that this isn't true in all locations and there are plenty of good landlords who collect this personal information to find the best renter they can for their property. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
creekland Posted November 6, 2010 Share Posted November 6, 2010 We have two rental properties that we rent using Craigslist. Due to prior past experiences that have cost us money, we always do credit checks and background checks (at our cost). These are only done after we have shown the prospective tenants the property and they put a (refundable) deposit down. We checked into property management, but they are expensive and not worth it to us. They would also have charged $200 more per month in rent for our property (but cost us even more than that $200/month). At one time we checked into selling one of the places to the property management folks (or one of their investors perhaps), but we had current tenants we liked. They would have had to pay $350 more per month if we had sold. We didn't have the heart to do that to them. Once they left and we needed a new tenant we increased the rent $150 to help us out though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ks-sunflower Posted November 6, 2010 Share Posted November 6, 2010 My dd found a terrific apartment and room mate at college on Craigslist. We were very cautious and very lucky though I think! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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