Due diligence when renting out my condo

As a LL, I care MUCH more about credit score than income, as I am likely the biggest bill of the month. Here are my 3 reasons:

-Would you rather have someone who makes a lot and does not pay their bills on time, or someone who is responsible about their spending?
-In the above example, which one do you think will take better care of the apartment?
-You can loose a job, but a credit score shows a pattern of responsibility.

I would also ask for First, Last and Security, as to avoid your tenant using their security as their last month.

I can go on and on, but this is the free abbreviated version...

"-You can loose a job, but a credit score shows a pattern of responsibility."

Unless you're a casualty of Depression-21, lost your job in '08 or '09 and couldn't find work for 17 months, which in turn trashed your credit.

Now you're back on your feet, but your credit is in the toilet.

This can -- and IS -- happening to even the most fiscally responsible people.

As both a landlord AND a co-op board president, I'm finding now more than ever it's important to look at the WHOLE picture, rather than just having a knee-jerk reaction to a credit score anymore.

I am not going to spend my day NYCMatting, but said person's credit would not be in the toilet if they were responsible enough to save when they had good income then downsize when they didn't.

and yes, I also look at the entire application (not just the income, as I said). I have been doing this for as long as I have been in RE.

But I guess you have out done me by ALSO being a co-op president. You can have that one though!

Landlord? Matt, did you buy a Pitt?

e76, I'd advise getting a criminal background check. LLs do it all the time.

I'm with MAV. Character over income. (And this is speaking not just as a broker, but as someone who has been a landlady for nearly a decade).

Send me an email [please put "streeteasy" in the subject line so I can find it) and I'll get you a boilerplate lease agreement.

ali r.
DG Neary Realty
ali [at] dgneary [dot] com

Matt, did you get a promotion?

e76, you wouldn't be paying a broker.

Have it in the lease that the tenant is required to buy renter's insurance.

You can find lease forms here: http://www.blumberg.com/invoice.cgi?rm=view_cluster;cluster_id=1460694

fairway - true, but it becomes leverage in negotiations.

thanks all. still negotiating the relocation with my boss. i hope i can stick around, especially now that there's a fairway in my 'hood.

If the renter is required to buy renters insurance, and doesn't, are you going to try to evict? If the renter pays rent, doesn't destroy the place, and isn't complained about by the neighbors, be happy. Buy your own insurance, you need it.

The point is that if it's in the lease that they have to buy insurance, then if they don't and something happens, it's difficult for them to claim that you are liable.

Alright, but remember, whenever "something happens", they go after whoever has deep pockets.

@e76, my wife and i are looking for a 2 bedroom. please call me. 203.536.8520

@dmarc: still a bachelor- live in a 1 br. sorry to disappoint.

"Have it in the lease that the tenant is required to buy renter's insurance."

"The point is that if it's in the lease that they have to buy insurance, then if they don't and something happens, it's difficult for them to claim that you are liable."

How does this help? If there's something the landlord is responsible for that causes a loss by the tenant, even if the insurance company makes the tenant whole, the insurance company itself turn around and come after the landlord. So, basically you're trading the tenant's lawyers for the insurance company's lawyers. Sounds like a pretty backwards form of protection for the landlord.

(Conceivably the tenant could do something that would cause harm to a third party and the landlord wants to be protected by that, but as huntersburg points out you'd want your own insurance anyway in case they don't get the insurance policy or forget to pay premiumsor something.)

Requiring the tenant to buy insurance in the lease is a good idea for the reasons mentioned, but certainly not a replacement for one's own insurance.