Renting a house.... Any Tips?

[ed1564]

I am going back to college in July and plan on renting a house. A friend and I found a place, rent is $750, with a one year lease, and a $500 deposit. He said the both of us have to fill out and application, and since we are only 19, will probably have to have a garantour, and pay $40 application fee. Then once he has our deposit he will hold the house for us until we sign the lease which can be anytime before we move in.

I have never rented a house before so I am not really sure what mistakes I can, and will make. Is there any negotating I can do? like throw in a washer and drier?

Any tips would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks
Eddie

 

[d33pt]

i dont think there is much negotiating going on.. usually you'll need the house more than he needs you to rent it from him because there are probably 10 other ppl in line for it..

 

[Vette73]

If it is a good deal, MOVE FAST. I have tried to rent some places and the next day people have rented it, sometimes without looking at it

But just read all the fine print, like who fixes things, and what you have to do, etc...

 

[yakko]

There really is no negotiating. Get everything in writing though.

 

[HappyPuppy]

Take plenty of pictures of any existing damage like cracked windows, stained carpet or drapes, holes in walls, torn screens and whatever else you find. Take some pictures of the yard and exterior while you're at it.

 

[BrunoPuntzJones]

Originally posted by: d33pt
i dont think there is much negotiating going on.. usually you'll need the house more than he needs you to rent it from him because there are probably 10 other ppl in line for it..

Bingo. If someone isn't willing to pay the rent I want for what I say, someone else will be. You have almost no leverage.

Walk through the house with him and inspect everything and make note of it so it doesn't come back to bite you in the ass later. If he's smart he'll video tape the house to show the condition, that way if you say "this was broken when I moved in" he whoops out that video tape and looks.

Just make sure you have everything in writing and lined out. What he provides and what you provide. Depends on the state about upkeep. Here if you have someone on public $$$ (section 8) and the house has a jacuzzi in it and it breaks, you have to fix it (like one of those bathtub kind). Sucks Things like that probably won't apply since it's just regular folk, but won't hurt to ask.

 

[MrBond]

Check out the neighborhood. If it's bad, you're not going to want to live there. Ours wasn't terrible, but it got worse as the time between when we signed the lease and when we moved in, so the landlord installed an alarm system for us. We pay the monitoring fee now, he paid for the install. Might ask him about doing that for you as well.

If it has a basement, ask if it ever floods. This is very important, as some renters insurance doesn't cover that. We looked at a house where the landlord told us the sewer backed up once and flooded into the basement. So definatly ask about that.

Ask if he knows what the average gas/electric/water bills are. A really cheap house rent can be offset by expensive gas bills.

Find out what his position on drilling holes in the walls is. If you're going to want to run cat5, it's either along the baseboard or through the walls. Some landlords don't like that (even though it's really nice to have for them if you leave it all there)