Reply to Re: LL Tip: Lowering the Rent vs. Lowering the Deposit

Re: LL Tip: Lowering the Rent vs. Lowering the Deposit (Score: 1) by A Tenant on Saturday, August 13, 2011 @07:22

a lot of the rental market has become wise to the "upside-down in the mortgage accidental landlord" who doesn't know how to run a rental and can't afford to keep it up.

Well yeah, most tenants want their landlord's credit to be at least as good as theirs, not to be lied to about a "loan mod coming through" that doesn't, not to be kicked out of their place, not to rent from a bank that won't fix things, etc. As most LLs are not going to provide proof that their payments are current, I categorically refuse to rent anywhere that was last purchased between 2003 and 2008(which is public record) by a private individual

"The mentality is "It's too cheap, there must be something wrong" or "Think of the type of people I'll be forced to live around"."

I used to think that when I first rented, but then I realized that the higher-rent places(assuming no commensurate amenities to justify the rents) tended to fill their places with Section 8 or worse, convicted felons, in order to stay filled. I got out of one place, found somewhere else in a better neighborhood with the same rent, and no longer deal with overt gang activity. Also just generally better neighbors on average in terms of things like noise and litter, not to mention not having constant burglaries.

I know one woman who had a meth possession conviction, a residential burglary conviction, and 2 evictions on her record. What surprised me was not that her place was trashy, but how much her rent was, about $300 above market. While she has cleaned up some I still wouldn't want her as a neighbor(from what I get, she pays the rent but trashes the place and brings in unauthorized residents who are also felons).

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