Certain words, sayings or phrases make my ears perk up during the screening process........what are your red flag phrases that make you raise an eye brow:

For me its: "I have the money" - if you didn't have money, why would you be looking for a place?

1. My current landlord is a slum lord.

1. My current landlord is a slum lord.

ASAP - "call me back ASAP" or "I need to move ASAP"

"I can explain"

"Im currently homeless."

"I'm living in my van."

"I'm in a hotel."

"I'm on a limited income."

"When can I see it? when can I see it? When can I see it?" (That one drives me nuts!!! Especially when it's after every question during the pre-screen)

"I need to move in today."

"Here's the thing..."

I have the rent now, but I can give you the security in $5 increments over the next 15 years" (not really, but you get the idea.)

Can we plant flowers?

God bless!

We left our last place better than we found it.

I am o c d.

Red flag ~ they Don't eat lunch.

Lol

Seriously. The new one i'm hearing is "i am.uncomfortable sharing that information as my last landlord stole my id and open a bank account in my name "

Won't provide copy of photo id. Drivers license, social security number, bank account information. Nothing,

Also. When they have a car title loan or pay day loan.

Recently two said. ..why do i care whi lives there or for all that information. As long as the rent is paid, why would i dare to care.

I need it for September 1 (and today is August 29th)!

Can you work with me on the deposit - I have the rent.

I was evicted but not my fault at all, (the court docket shows 2200 or some amount more than what they claim the rent was) and he lost the case.

We have to watch my sisters dog a few days while they work on her apartment (tow truck size dog tied to the broken car mirror) - 2 crappy housekeepers!

My brother is visiting from outa state, do a house visit and there are no plates on motor home with spider webs on all corners plus the broken drain hose is underneath while the new one is going into a downspout connector.

My brother is going to put on a new roof here so we can get our deposit back - why would these be entangled in any way?

Different answers to the same questions from married applicants

"This place is perfect! When can we move in?" before even seeing the place.

"Do I have to have perfect credit?"

"We're on disability and have a baby on the way, but my boyfriend/fiance works under the table...."

1. God bless.

2. Can you work with me.

Hit me up.

"What do you look for in a credit report?" (people with decent credit don't ask that).

1) Are you pet friendly

2) I am calling for my daughter and her boyfriend. They are really good kids. They've been living with me.

3) I am OCD

4) My Landlord never fixes things.

5) I can give you money today

My current landlord is a real ( insert bad language here )

1. We're thinking about getting a dog (ad says no pets)

2. God Bless

3. Have a blessed day

4. Can you work with me

5. I am living with friends right now

6. Can you give us 24 hour notice before entering

entering the house for repairs? (so they can

hide their pot).

7. Can I pay half the rent and work with you on the

other half. If I don't pay you the rest of the

-im on (insert govt program) "so the rent is guaranteed"

-"I can do (insert trade), so I can redo the (insert trade) while im living here.

-"my (insert person or persons) are comming to visit"

Andrew - the line about so the rent is guaranteed is spot on and so very common.

We need to move because the area is really bad, drugs parties etc. It's usually them that are causing the problems.

The upstairs tenant is ( blah Blah Blah ) so we have to move.

the landlord is selling the house. lie

the landlord is moving his family in. lie

The landlord wont fix anything ( all the stuff they broke)

That was an illegal eviction on my record

I pay the landlord from my eviction ( hmm not on the court record)

It was the other people in the house that caused the eviction

we had to move cause of all the mold, lead, mice, cockroaches, etc. ( mile long eviction record)

"I only smoke outside."

"I'm self-employed with an exciting new business."

"I can get my grandfather to co-sign."

"That ATV in the back of my truck is for my second job as a groundskeeper at the soccer fields. It's usually stored there in a shed, I just have it with me to take in for repair." (And then little Johnny runs up and says, "Dad! Can we run our ATV around on that field back there?")

Can I paint?

I just had that during a lease signing. My original tenant moved a girl in and they wanted a bigger place. So I moved them into a bigger place, but on a MTM lease.

First question out of her mouth, "Can I paint?"

All I can think to myself is, I'm glad your

I'm so excited to see the place. Can I look at it right now?

Can I make payments on the deposit?

I want to plant flowers.

I am so clean, that when I see a piece of paper on the floor I pick it up.

I have a dog, but we are getting rid of it.

Our place now has so many roaches. If I leave food out roaches are all over it. It's gross!

I have all your money right now. Can we move in tonight?

The biggest red flag I ever had? Prospect calls me and begins to leave a voicemail. I call her back while she is leaving the voicemail. Voicemail recording says, ". This is Lucy Loser I am calling about your house...and who the f#@! Is this? (as she looks at her caller ID...).

Never a dull moment in landlording land

Why is "can we plant flowers" a red flag?

I love all of these reasons. They are so true.

Anything related to religion/faith is a huge red flag. Why would you advertise your religion to your landlord?

We needed to repaint a house. The tenant saw it before we painted it and asked us to use his choice of colors. I upcharged a little. I'm tempted to not allow that in the future b/c they could be a PITA. Thoughts?

"I'm calling for my mother/father..." is one of my favorite red flags. Usually because the parent doesn't speak English..

Hi JustinTN. The tenant goes overboard about how they will make the place better, when they have no real intention. It's just one of those things. Hence, can we paint, can we plant flowers? Just as they say God bless...

My sister from middle east will live here. (No speak any English.)

She will have all legal document to show in 6 month.(Hide in my place?!)

Her husband still overseas. (My thought... fighting for whom?)

We will pay you rent reduced by 10% from the asking rental price.

Justin I wouldn't do that. Landlords usually want to get all their houses painted the same color over time to make things easier, why let them do custom colors when they could only be there one year?

What all comes with it ?

Anytime anyone uses the term god bless.

I am building / working on my credit

Credit bad due to a nasty divorce/ id theft 10 yrs ago

I dont really have any credit do you still need to run my credit?

I have a current credit report, can we use that one?

I dont want you pulling my credit because it will hurt my score

I dont have any ID on me

Dont have credit cause we are here illegally

I don't think I could add any more phrases to this list,...I have heard most of these phrases from applicants.

"We will treat your place as if it were our own".

But they're hoarders and slobs, so don't think for a minute that means they'll treat it the way YOU would.

(Hey, they didn't lie...)

After mentioning that I run credit on everyone:

I'm sorry, I don't know how I forgot the most recent one. --Caller: Yes, it's me and my boyfriend. Oh what's that? Oh, hold on...( background yells to boyfriend, what's your last name? How do you spell that??). Yes, we want it as soon as possible, we are in looooooooovee.

I found out theyd been together a month.

Pretty much all of these. Some of the best I had

When asked screening questions about credit, job etc

"See here is the thing....."

I pay my rent cash

I willing to pay more if you don't do background check.

My last LL loves me/us.