I have an expensive house for rent in the bay area.

I have one single mature male with 2 teen girls who is self employed with lots of cash in the bank who is offering $4K. The other prospect are 4 Indian engineering professionals are in their mid 20's offering $4.3K (they have lived together before).

My main concerns for going with the $4.3K is higher chances of conflict, the higher increase of not keeping the place clean with more young adults, and a risk of staining/odor which may not be cleaned out due to the ethnic foods they may or may not cook.

I'm leaning towards the 4 adults however these concerns are weighing on my mind.

I had a family of the ethnicity that you mentioned in a rental in Saratoga. The only issue I had with odors after they moved out was that the original ventilation system for the over-the-range microwave was never set up. So the fan just blew the kitchen exhaust everywhere, and the small area where the outtake was directed had to be cleaned and painted, a new exhaust system afterward having been set up correctly and immediately.

I ended up changing the carpet anyway because it was thrashed after nearly ten years of use and two sets of tenants. The walls didn't smell like bad, and the rental is a two-story house with vaulted ceilings.

In general in Silicon Valley, it's pretty common for placement companies who rent a big unit to fit a bunch of young engineers from overseas together. If you feel weird about the extra $300 a month because the guys will potentially thrash the place and cook, then you might consider the other tenant or just pass on all of them. Be careful about the way you reject the potential tenants, and you can find great tips on how to word your communications putting rejection in this forum's search box.

Also, you might not use your real name on this forum. It's a great place to learn, but again, you can just create a moniker and just keep on using it. Best of luck.

myob brings up a good point. In the 1990s, a friend of mine who lived right next to Dolores church in San Francisco was renting a large place with a bunch of roommates. The roommates would leave and just have the replacement tenants send rent checks to the owner who didn't keep track of deposits of the outgoing or incoming tenants. The same thing happened to a friend in the Western Addition area of SF. In both cases, the landlords finally sent notes to keep track of the tenants. You might do the same if you rent to the group of engineers and put something in your lease about the separate deposits. Stay on top of the number of tenants.

I am not understanding something. Did you not set what the rent will be? Is it typical for you to take bids from tenants regarding how much they will pay? This seems odd to me. How do you end up with different people offering different rent amounts?