pwned by my own naivity
 

So I have this 3/2.5 house out here in good ol' Augusta that I'm trying to rent out, and have been for the last couple months, and it was going fine for awhile, but why do people string you along until the very last fucking second before they back out? Answer - because I should have required a deposit, foolish me.

The first dickhead is a good friend of mine, a fellow soldier who'd just gotten married so would be moving out of his barracks. He'd been to the house many times so no need to show it to him per se, he already knew it well. Long story short, he waited until the day we sat down to go over the contract to tell us his wife would prefer to live in on-base housing.

The second is a couple we met on Craigslist, the wife is a staff sergeant at the signal school on post so I felt pretty good about having them as tenants. They did a walkthrough with us, told us their nightmare story with their current landlord, said they liked the house, etc. After the walkthrough we'd been in touch via phone and email, and all the while they dislayed no hint that they weren't going to follow through. They were supposed to come over last night to go over the contract and give us the first month's pro-rated rent. We heard nothing from them and they never showed. :vash:

It's not like we're wanting too much, either, it's a nice house in a good neighborhood, and we're asking much less for rent than other houses on the street even though ours is in better shape.

Oh! -EDIT- and the movers are coming today and tomorrow so all our stuff will be gone, we were supposed to head down to Jax on saturday but now that's probably postponed.

/rant

Wish you were closer to me. I'm looking for a good place to rent/buy.

You’ve only had a couple people in a couple months time? If that’s the case, then you’d likely benefit from lowering your price, improving marketing or offering a move-in incentive, like free rent for the first month. Hopefully you’re not saying to yourself, “yeah, no shit buddy”... but I’m just trying to help…

In my experience, I usually run at least 10 groups through before I chose one. I choose them. It’s tedious and time-consuming but, hey, it’s your house and some people are professional renters and can really make your life miserable. Personally, I avoid craigslist unless I’m selling car parts or the like. It attracts too many weird fucks, at least in my area. Spend a little money and advertise in a nice weekly rag with a couple nice pics and an alluring description. Try to attract “professionals” who are in between houses. Then when you get them there, push assertively (and gently) to get them to sit down and sign the paperwork. Always do credit checks and call their references. I’ve been burned and it sucks…

We're in totally different areas with totally different circumstances but that's what I do... hth

wow haha, those kind of people piss me off.......just like the idiots that give you a deposit on something, then back out and demand their deposit back...WTF is the point of a deposit if you demand it back when you back out? it defies the point

I should have explained better why there were only two potential tenants. The first one strung us along for two months, and we didn't advertise the place at all. Once he backed out, my wife replied to some "want-to-rent" ads on CL and within 48 hours we were doing the walkthrough with tenant #2. They just backed out yesterday and we have two other potential renters already after we responded to a few more WTB ads.

be glad they flaked out BEFORE costing you any money.

they cost him his time and from the sound of it ~2 months of rent. that's pretty shitty.

It wouldn't cost me financially unless I don't have renters before the 1st of August, I still get my BAH until I get to Cali and start living in army housing.

I suggest Section8...you can list it on their site, plenty of tenants, the majority of the rent comes from Section8 and therefore you run little risk of deadbeats...

On top of everything, they inspect the properties annually and require tenants/landlords to repair any issues...

Lastly, the tenants receiving the assistance can easily get thrown out of the program and lose their benefits if they screw up...So you typically dont have any problems...

It keeps both parties in line, so slumlords hate it as do deadbeat tenants....but for honest landlords and responsible tenants, its great...takes a LIL while to get ur 1st check depending on the area (30-60days)...

GL, I feel for you (4properties!)