I showed a room to a young graduate student who had just come here from the Middle East. She said she would like to move in by March 1. I asked about her present living situation, and she told me that she lived in a three-bedroom apartment a few streets away that one of the roommates had left, and now the remainder of the rent was forced upon the two remaining students, as it was jointly and severally responsible

She said that her landlord would allow her to move out of the apartment if she found a room by March 1. I took her application and I called “Sarah” who is the landlord to get some information. I placed this call three days ago. I heard nothing from Sara all day. The next day I called again, as I feel, it’s important for her to verify everything that I was told, I left a message, and again nothing. On the assessors database, the owner of the house is not Sara, but evidently Sara is the owners daughter who takes care of the property.

Yesterday, I finally got the owner’s number and I called him. I asked him if he was the owner of such and such house and he said yes. I told him I was trying to reach Sara for a landlord verification, and he said “yes, that is my daughter“ he then said I will call her at work. I still have heard nothing from either Sara or her father.

Time is getting short, and I need to give this young girl an answer. I really believe her story as I can’t imagine she is savvy enough to make all this up. I have her college transcripts and her work papers. She’s young and sweet and is quite upset about, what had gone on and I really believe her.

I’m frustrated because as a landlord, I would have responded quickly however, not all landlords are that conscientious or might not even care. Who knows I may hear from her today or I might not. But I think I’m just going to move forward at this point and give her the room. Any thoughts?

Yes, I am definitely going to rent it to her. I definitely believe her and I don’t understand why these people don’t call back. If one of my kids were managing my rentals, I would be pretty upset that they were nonresponsive.

So, I’m just wondering, if you all have present and previous landlord information on your rental applications, and you call them both, and you get no response, does that mean you necessarily would not rent to the person who is applying for your rental?

You're on the right track, keep moving forward.

Sara is the problem here, probably lacking the maturity

Sounds to me like Sara has no reason to call you, besides being polite and professional. She is about to lose a tenant.

Could be that she is hoping you don't take a good tenant from her. Could be that she makes the same if she calls or doesn't call.

Could be that she is so busy with her day job that she can't find the time to get back with you.

Could be that she is just lazy.

Everything else checks out for you. You know that she is the correct contact so the applicant isn't telling stories.

Thanks for all your feedback. I can’t call the previous landlord as she is from Iran and I would have a hard time probably trying to find them.

As far as a cosigner again, her family is in Iran, and the only place I could probably fall back on is at the University.

If the manager is young, college age, she does not check her voice mail and she sees you have called but doesn't know your number, so she won't call you back.

You could have asked her father what was going on with the rental, He should have at least a vague idea so he could have verified the story, even if he didn't know what the girl is like as a roommate. He would know if the rent was paid and he would know about major destruction,

She can pay your full rent all by herself, but can not pay half rent to stay where she is?

Maybe Sarah doesn’t want to lie about her dealings with her tenants. If she tells you the truth, she won’t be able to be rid of them.

Oregon, the room rental price on her present apartment is $600. It’s a three bedroom so that would be $1800 rent, 600 per student. One of the students left so that meant that she and the remaining student would have to pay an extra $300 more a month apiece to cover the cost of, the roommate that vacated so now the rent would be $900.

She didn’t want to do that, and I understand, and if her landlord gave her an “out“, she wanted to take it. I am going to contact her and tell her that I have still not heard from her landlord and see what she could do about having her call me however, some landlords just don’t care, and I don’t know what the case is here.

When I spoke with the father, it seemed like he had no idea what was going on. However, I told him the problem I was having about no return calls, and it would’ve been nice if he had assured me of the situation however, I never did received a call back.

Well, I bit the bullet and I decided to call again. There were two separate numbers, so I called the first one and left a voice message. I called the second one that I called yesterday and his son answered. His son did say that the father and daughter were both involved in the rental, he owns it, and it seems she manages , so I have no idea how involved he is in the dealings with tenants.

He gave me his dad’s cell phone number and I just called and left a message.

I’ll wait and see, at this point…….

Success!! Sara called me back. She gave me a good review for this girl. She affirmed exactly what the graduate student said that she could be let out of her lease early if she found something.

The owner said she always paid rent on time, and that the apartment was always immaculate. Looks like it’s ago!

Jo,

Congrats on staying the course of good screening!

Don't forget the In Home Visit!

Some foreign folks leave dense cooking odors.

Your previous responses were all emotional, not factual.

Never ever NEVER trust your gut to allow someone into your investment, esp when there are plenty of other students. That can be fatal. Only trust your gut when something is telling you NO, something in not right.

True, very few LLs will call back or give a references.

It is not MY job to force-qualify them my my efforts, it's THEIR job to prove they qualify.

This screening stuff used to be easier and a small gap in info could be overlooked because most folks were honest, but times have changed. We MUST be more diligent than ever.

Stay strong and protect your investments!

PS

Young people don't do voicemail. Even *I* don't do voicemail.

I'll bet she never heard your messages.

BRAD

I don't call back,...ever since I got sued by a tenant because I gave a bad report, ( the landlord assured me He wouldn't tell that tenant that I gave a negative report,..but did)