Re: In person - Landlord Forum thread 338252

Re: In person by Andrea (GA) on August 21, 2015 @12:42

It is my requirement that I meet every prospective tenant in person. I know there are occasionally reasons whereby a prospect might find himself in this situation and I feel badly for that, but there is just too much risk in it for me. As has already been stated, there should be at least a weekend when the person(s) will be in town--after all, they are going to be living there.

I find I learn a lot about people by meeting them in person, and in turn they learn a lot about me and the property. Sometimes they will end up telling me things in passing that they did not reveal in the pre-screen. I am also able to show them the features of the home and review the tenant's responsibilities. If they smoke, I will be able to smell it. And they will be able to see if the location and property work for them. (Can you imagine committing yourself to a place that turned out to be a dump/too small/whatever?)

In your scenario, there would be another problem for me. I sit down with the tenant at lease signing and go over it with him/her. I find this mitigates problems down the road--they cannot say they didn't know. Bottom line--you have to decide if you are tolerant of the risk here. Is this your only prospect? If not, then move on.

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