Tell me about renting in 2015
June 12, 2015 11:16 AM
We are considering selling out house and renting a home in a different part of town. I haven't rented in so long that I'm not sure what to expect. My hope is to rent a home with a very small yard. I would appreciate input on what renting is like these days, and in particular, renting a house.
I was only a renter for about a year around 1998-1999, and it was a studio apartment. This time we want to rent a house; something smaller than what we have, and ideally with a small lawn for our tortoise.
One particular area I am unsure of is the particulars regarding renting a home - what to look for, what should we expect the landlord to cover, what we are expected to cover. Maintenance, etc... What we should be looking at in terms of the homes condition. For instance, I'm not too worried if the place is a little shabby, but I worry about mold and dust because of allergies and asthma. Carpet is out, which I know is common in rentals because of the low cost to replace.
We have pets, which I intend to bring with us, we plan to rehome the dogs, but it's unclear if we'll be able to do that before we move. However, that still leaves us with cats, tortoise, and lots of aquariums. I've spoken to a few friends who've rented houses with a similar pet set up to us, and they've said that the biggest issues have always been the 4 legged pets. I'm not expecting it to be easy, but believe it's possible to find a place to rent without it being insanely difficult. However, if anyone has any pro-tips on finding landlords who are open to pets, or persuading landlords to be open to pets, that would be much appreciated.
What kind of things can we expect in a lease? What kind of obligation do landlords have in terms of renewing the lease? Say we do year to year, and the landlord sells the house, does that change things? When renting houses, is the lease terms different? Longer? I expect where ever we'd move, we'd be there for at least a year but it may be necessary to stay longer to get finances under control. (Ultimately we'd like to buy.) I'd like to limit whatever risk of the landlord pulling up roots in the midst of us staying if that's at all possible; I don't want to move until we're ready to move as its a bit of a big deal for us with the aquariums.
Conversely, what kind of things allow us to break a lease. Going back to the concern about allergies, what if the place turns out to be mold infested and we don't know until we've moved in, etc . . .
Anything else I should be aware of? For example, there was a post on the Blue about landlords taking over homes that were in the middle of bank repossession, and renting them out until the bank took action, leaving the residents high and dry with no place to live. How do I avoid that and what other things should I be looking at?
If it helps at all, we're looking to rent from buying for a few reasons - downsizing, moving to the city, and having poor credit and some medical debt that is keeping us from being able to buy right now. We can afford the mortgage right now, but just barely. I want out of the burbs and into the city to a place with public transportation and walkable access to stores.
I know location can be relevant to renter laws, so this is in Milwaukee, WI.
(For those playing along, I am still considering staying and taking on a renter or boarder and staying for another year. That's probably next week's question.)
I was only a renter for about a year around 1998-1999, and it was a studio apartment. This time we want to rent a house; something smaller than what we have, and ideally with a small lawn for our tortoise.
One particular area I am unsure of is the particulars regarding renting a home - what to look for, what should we expect the landlord to cover, what we are expected to cover. Maintenance, etc... What we should be looking at in terms of the homes condition. For instance, I'm not too worried if the place is a little shabby, but I worry about mold and dust because of allergies and asthma. Carpet is out, which I know is common in rentals because of the low cost to replace.
We have pets, which I intend to bring with us, we plan to rehome the dogs, but it's unclear if we'll be able to do that before we move. However, that still leaves us with cats, tortoise, and lots of aquariums. I've spoken to a few friends who've rented houses with a similar pet set up to us, and they've said that the biggest issues have always been the 4 legged pets. I'm not expecting it to be easy, but believe it's possible to find a place to rent without it being insanely difficult. However, if anyone has any pro-tips on finding landlords who are open to pets, or persuading landlords to be open to pets, that would be much appreciated.
What kind of things can we expect in a lease? What kind of obligation do landlords have in terms of renewing the lease? Say we do year to year, and the landlord sells the house, does that change things? When renting houses, is the lease terms different? Longer? I expect where ever we'd move, we'd be there for at least a year but it may be necessary to stay longer to get finances under control. (Ultimately we'd like to buy.) I'd like to limit whatever risk of the landlord pulling up roots in the midst of us staying if that's at all possible; I don't want to move until we're ready to move as its a bit of a big deal for us with the aquariums.
Conversely, what kind of things allow us to break a lease. Going back to the concern about allergies, what if the place turns out to be mold infested and we don't know until we've moved in, etc . . .
Anything else I should be aware of? For example, there was a post on the Blue about landlords taking over homes that were in the middle of bank repossession, and renting them out until the bank took action, leaving the residents high and dry with no place to live. How do I avoid that and what other things should I be looking at?
If it helps at all, we're looking to rent from buying for a few reasons - downsizing, moving to the city, and having poor credit and some medical debt that is keeping us from being able to buy right now. We can afford the mortgage right now, but just barely. I want out of the burbs and into the city to a place with public transportation and walkable access to stores.
I know location can be relevant to renter laws, so this is in Milwaukee, WI.
(For those playing along, I am still considering staying and taking on a renter or boarder and staying for another year. That's probably next week's question.)
IALL. IANYFutureLL, not least because I am not in WI.
1) I agree with lpcxa0 that you may save less than you think. Your rent will need to be high enough to cover taxes + mortgage + maintenance + profit (if your LL is LLing as a major source of income), plus you'll probably have to cover some or all of the utilities.
2) LLs who accept pets will probably charge you a not-insubstantial fee per pet. I would not balk at either the cats or the tortoise, but would probably not permit multiple aquariums (risk of water damage, among other things).
3) Rules about the lease &c. will be in the local tenant's rights laws. Many jurisdictions require the lease to remain in force if the LL sells the house, but the next owner can just order you to quit once it's up. Obviously, if the bank repossesses or the house is condemned, you have entirely different problems, and "are you solvent?" is a difficult question to ask...
4) In addition to what you'd expect for an apartment, a house rental lease will probably contain stipulations about who does the yardwork, what automobiles can be on the property and in what condition, who is responsible for snow removal, and who pays for garbage removal (if it isn't automatically supplied by the city).
5) The LL has to keep the place habitable, so if the house is reeking with mold, the LL has to remedy the situation. However, if the LL has let the house get to that point...
6) I got to the end and saw "poor credit." Hmmmm. This will cause you problems with a number of LLs, at least some of whom are going to require credit checks.
posted by thomas j wise at 12:02 PM on June 12, 2015
1) I agree with lpcxa0 that you may save less than you think. Your rent will need to be high enough to cover taxes + mortgage + maintenance + profit (if your LL is LLing as a major source of income), plus you'll probably have to cover some or all of the utilities.
2) LLs who accept pets will probably charge you a not-insubstantial fee per pet. I would not balk at either the cats or the tortoise, but would probably not permit multiple aquariums (risk of water damage, among other things).
3) Rules about the lease &c. will be in the local tenant's rights laws. Many jurisdictions require the lease to remain in force if the LL sells the house, but the next owner can just order you to quit once it's up. Obviously, if the bank repossesses or the house is condemned, you have entirely different problems, and "are you solvent?" is a difficult question to ask...
4) In addition to what you'd expect for an apartment, a house rental lease will probably contain stipulations about who does the yardwork, what automobiles can be on the property and in what condition, who is responsible for snow removal, and who pays for garbage removal (if it isn't automatically supplied by the city).
5) The LL has to keep the place habitable, so if the house is reeking with mold, the LL has to remedy the situation. However, if the LL has let the house get to that point...
6) I got to the end and saw "poor credit." Hmmmm. This will cause you problems with a number of LLs, at least some of whom are going to require credit checks.
posted by thomas j wise at 12:02 PM on June 12, 2015
Most houses I've looked at in Milwaukee only have carpet in the bedroom(s), if at all. In the areas you are looking at, carpet is not actually very common. Lots of places have original hardwood floors in the living spaces and then laminate in the kitchen/bathroom.
I haven't had much trouble renting with cats but dogs limited our choices severely. However, we were still able to find nice places to live. One place had an upfront non-refundable pet deposit that was equal to one month's rent. Another place tacked on $50-100 (I forget) to the monthly rent. My current apartment (not a house) does not charge any extra for 2 cats (no dogs). tl;dr, it will vary a lot by landlord.
You should expect to have to do your own yardwork and clean your own drive/sidewalk in the winter. I find that landlords-of-houses are less responsive to maintenance requests than landlords-of-apartment buildings. Apartment landlords go through a lot of tenant turnover and are relatively professional.
Bad credit, depending on how bad, will definitely be a stumbling block. Everyone runs checks now. I had bad credit but it was 90% medical and I think my age and career helped overcome that. Your rent-to-income ratio is also a factor - generally they look for monthly income at least 3x the monthly rent (I'm not making any assumptions here, just helping you budget).
Generally leases are initially for a year. In my experience, many landlords then go to 60 day periods beginning at the first of the month. So if I wanted to move out on July 31, I could not because it is within the 60 day window. The earliest I could end my lease right now is August 31. The flipside is that they also have to give you 60 days notice instead of the usual 30.
My old landlords, a married couple, were divorcing and one of them wanted our apartment for himself, so they just told us that they were raising the rent by an egregious amount ($300). This is apparently not illegal in Milwaukee as it is in some other cities (Chicago, IIRC). There was no way to know they'd do this when we moved in 3 years prior, though, so there's no warning signs I can give you. Your best bet is to build a moving fund for emergencies like this.
posted by desjardins at 12:34 PM on June 12, 2015
I haven't had much trouble renting with cats but dogs limited our choices severely. However, we were still able to find nice places to live. One place had an upfront non-refundable pet deposit that was equal to one month's rent. Another place tacked on $50-100 (I forget) to the monthly rent. My current apartment (not a house) does not charge any extra for 2 cats (no dogs). tl;dr, it will vary a lot by landlord.
You should expect to have to do your own yardwork and clean your own drive/sidewalk in the winter. I find that landlords-of-houses are less responsive to maintenance requests than landlords-of-apartment buildings. Apartment landlords go through a lot of tenant turnover and are relatively professional.
Bad credit, depending on how bad, will definitely be a stumbling block. Everyone runs checks now. I had bad credit but it was 90% medical and I think my age and career helped overcome that. Your rent-to-income ratio is also a factor - generally they look for monthly income at least 3x the monthly rent (I'm not making any assumptions here, just helping you budget).
Generally leases are initially for a year. In my experience, many landlords then go to 60 day periods beginning at the first of the month. So if I wanted to move out on July 31, I could not because it is within the 60 day window. The earliest I could end my lease right now is August 31. The flipside is that they also have to give you 60 days notice instead of the usual 30.
My old landlords, a married couple, were divorcing and one of them wanted our apartment for himself, so they just told us that they were raising the rent by an egregious amount ($300). This is apparently not illegal in Milwaukee as it is in some other cities (Chicago, IIRC). There was no way to know they'd do this when we moved in 3 years prior, though, so there's no warning signs I can give you. Your best bet is to build a moving fund for emergencies like this.
posted by desjardins at 12:34 PM on June 12, 2015
Say we do year to year, and the landlord sells the house, does that change things?
This will greatly depend on renting rights in your state, but in experiences I've seen others go through if the property sells it's up to the discretion of the buyer. They may choose to keep renting it and let you stay, or they may not.
When renting houses, is the lease terms different? Longer?
I believe with houses this is more negotiable, but you may need to stay there a year before trying to approach a longer lease.
Conversely, what kind of things allow us to break a lease. Going back to the concern about allergies, what if the place turns out to be mold infested and we don't know until we've moved in, etc
This is 100% dependent on your lease and the laws for the state.
what should we expect the landlord to cover, what we are expected to cover. Maintenance, etc
This is all negotiable. The first place we rented offered lawn service, but the place we're in now doesn't. If they don't offer lawn service then I would just recommend making sure they're providing you with the tools to maintain the property.
What we should be looking at in terms of the homes condition. For instance, I'm not too worried if the place is a little shabby, but I worry about mold and dust because of allergies and asthma
If you have mold or dust allergies I'd imagine they'll trigger while walking around the property. Having dealt with leaks one thing I look for are water stains in the areas touching bathrooms or roofs. On that same note if there is a basement ask about water issues in there.
However, if anyone has any pro-tips on finding landlords who are open to pets, or persuading landlords to be open to pets, that would be much appreciated.
We have two dogs and had a heck of a time trying to find houses we could rent. Your situation is likely going to be much, much harder. The only thing I can suggest is to just ask and go from there. The first place we rented didn't have anything about pets, but after meeting our dogs the landlord was ok with it. One possible idea is to offer an additional pet deposit as part of your security depost.
posted by Tarpit_Carnivore at 12:38 PM on June 12, 2015
This will greatly depend on renting rights in your state, but in experiences I've seen others go through if the property sells it's up to the discretion of the buyer. They may choose to keep renting it and let you stay, or they may not.
When renting houses, is the lease terms different? Longer?
I believe with houses this is more negotiable, but you may need to stay there a year before trying to approach a longer lease.
Conversely, what kind of things allow us to break a lease. Going back to the concern about allergies, what if the place turns out to be mold infested and we don't know until we've moved in, etc
This is 100% dependent on your lease and the laws for the state.
what should we expect the landlord to cover, what we are expected to cover. Maintenance, etc
This is all negotiable. The first place we rented offered lawn service, but the place we're in now doesn't. If they don't offer lawn service then I would just recommend making sure they're providing you with the tools to maintain the property.
What we should be looking at in terms of the homes condition. For instance, I'm not too worried if the place is a little shabby, but I worry about mold and dust because of allergies and asthma
If you have mold or dust allergies I'd imagine they'll trigger while walking around the property. Having dealt with leaks one thing I look for are water stains in the areas touching bathrooms or roofs. On that same note if there is a basement ask about water issues in there.
However, if anyone has any pro-tips on finding landlords who are open to pets, or persuading landlords to be open to pets, that would be much appreciated.
We have two dogs and had a heck of a time trying to find houses we could rent. Your situation is likely going to be much, much harder. The only thing I can suggest is to just ask and go from there. The first place we rented didn't have anything about pets, but after meeting our dogs the landlord was ok with it. One possible idea is to offer an additional pet deposit as part of your security depost.
posted by Tarpit_Carnivore at 12:38 PM on June 12, 2015
The aquariums might be a real problem. I can absolutely see a landlord being concerned about water damage or even, if it's an older property, the weight of those tanks on anything but a basement floor.
posted by lydhre at 12:41 PM on June 12, 2015
posted by lydhre at 12:41 PM on June 12, 2015
Right, most places won't let you have waterbeds (I have no idea of the weight of a waterbed vs. an aquarium but it's the same reasoning).
posted by desjardins at 12:48 PM on June 12, 2015
posted by desjardins at 12:48 PM on June 12, 2015
We rented our house for five years in the late aughts here in San Francisco, and I've also rented apartments in Milwaukee and Philly.
We have a dog and, at the time, had a tortoise (a smaller one that spent most of its time in a tank, now, sadly, passed). We also had pet mice and a lizard in addition at one point, and the landlord was aware of the animals, or at least the larger ones. So, it is possible to rent with animals, but it is much, much harder to find a willing landlord, and even harder to find a place that will rent affordably.
You're not going to be renting from one of the major rental firms, you're almost invariably going to be renting from a small, independent landlord of whom this may be their only property. You're basically going to have to check Craigslist, pound the pavement, and hope for an in from friends on someone who just happens to have a house they rent out.
Our rent for the house was certainly less than a mortgage would have been at the time, and was also much less expensive than many other housing options. We uncovered the secret to why that was a few years later - the same family had owned the house since the 40s, so the mortgage was long paid off, and here in California, Prop 13 made property taxes low. Their monthly cost to rent the house to us was likely under $100, so despite our low rent, they were still making a nice profit. While the property tax argument doesn't hold for Milwaukee, there are plenty of older homes that have stayed in the hands of families who have long since paid off the house.
However, our low rent pretty much covered just our presence in the house. We paid all utilities, including trash and sewer. The appliances were old and cheap, and instead of coming out to do most things, the landlord had a home warranty that we had to call into to get a plumber or appliance service. The landlord would come out to do outside work on the house (it was painted while we were renting, for example), but he was sort of a personality and his work was not what you would generally consider quality work. So, we basically had coverage for disasters, and everything else was kind of weird or half-assed unless we did it ourselves.
However, the landlord was amenable to us doing our own improvements, and would sometimes chip in for those. Sometimes he was OK with us replacing something big if we took care of the whole thing, and would allow us to deduct it from the rent, like a new but inexpensive dryer. Other times, we put some of our own money and elbow grease into making things more livable. Our relationship actually got better the longer we were in the house, as we think it was the first time as a landlord he ever saw the house get nicer the longer the tenants stayed, and we were rewarded with only perfunctory rent increases and ultimately the ability to purchase the house at a reasonable price in a private transaction when the owners decided to cash out.
This is in spite of the tortoise setting the house on fire at one point after knocking over a heat lamp. That's a story for another time.
But - and this is the big but of renting - even here in San Francisco with very strong tenant rights, an owner can move back into their house and take it off the market. This can happen with fairly little notice, and my understanding is that the protections are even weaker in Milwaukee. You will never have the same level of security in terms of where you live when you're renting as you do when you own a house - in most cases, you will only know year to year whether you'll be allowed to stay. That's the big if. You will need to keep a plan B around.
So, basically:
* Search and search until you find an old house owned by an idiosyncratic family landlord who doesn't mind animals. This will likely not be the first, second or tenth property owner you speak with. However, it does happen. If Craigslist doesn't work out, you might need to drive around and look for "For Rent" signs for this type of thing, the folks who are so small they don't even advertise.
* You're probably going to have to cover most everything if you want cheap rent.
* It's probably going to have crappy old appliances and be kind of a weird old house.
* Commit to putting some work into the house yourself even if it doesn't pay out in terms of general upkeep.
* Make sure the house is reasonably clean in spite of the animals in the event the landlord has to come over.
* I saw in the other thread that you had a 640 credit rating, and I don't think that's going to kill you. The average credit score is in the high 600s, so you're not far off. I'd recommend being honest with them and let them know that your credit score is meh due to medical bills so it doesn't come as a surprise. Work and personal references may come in handy here.
* Read the lease very carefully and clarify various situations that are not covered by the lease itself. Be sure to think/ask about seasonal issues that may not apply when you move in.
* You have to be ready for the possibility of finding a new place.
Hope this helps. It will be pretty hard to find the right place, but I don't think it's impossible.
On edit: I had a carpeted place in Milwaukee way back when, and I knew some other people who did too. I agree that hardwood is pretty common in the older houses around there, though.
posted by eschatfische at 12:49 PM on June 12, 2015
We have a dog and, at the time, had a tortoise (a smaller one that spent most of its time in a tank, now, sadly, passed). We also had pet mice and a lizard in addition at one point, and the landlord was aware of the animals, or at least the larger ones. So, it is possible to rent with animals, but it is much, much harder to find a willing landlord, and even harder to find a place that will rent affordably.
You're not going to be renting from one of the major rental firms, you're almost invariably going to be renting from a small, independent landlord of whom this may be their only property. You're basically going to have to check Craigslist, pound the pavement, and hope for an in from friends on someone who just happens to have a house they rent out.
Our rent for the house was certainly less than a mortgage would have been at the time, and was also much less expensive than many other housing options. We uncovered the secret to why that was a few years later - the same family had owned the house since the 40s, so the mortgage was long paid off, and here in California, Prop 13 made property taxes low. Their monthly cost to rent the house to us was likely under $100, so despite our low rent, they were still making a nice profit. While the property tax argument doesn't hold for Milwaukee, there are plenty of older homes that have stayed in the hands of families who have long since paid off the house.
However, our low rent pretty much covered just our presence in the house. We paid all utilities, including trash and sewer. The appliances were old and cheap, and instead of coming out to do most things, the landlord had a home warranty that we had to call into to get a plumber or appliance service. The landlord would come out to do outside work on the house (it was painted while we were renting, for example), but he was sort of a personality and his work was not what you would generally consider quality work. So, we basically had coverage for disasters, and everything else was kind of weird or half-assed unless we did it ourselves.
However, the landlord was amenable to us doing our own improvements, and would sometimes chip in for those. Sometimes he was OK with us replacing something big if we took care of the whole thing, and would allow us to deduct it from the rent, like a new but inexpensive dryer. Other times, we put some of our own money and elbow grease into making things more livable. Our relationship actually got better the longer we were in the house, as we think it was the first time as a landlord he ever saw the house get nicer the longer the tenants stayed, and we were rewarded with only perfunctory rent increases and ultimately the ability to purchase the house at a reasonable price in a private transaction when the owners decided to cash out.
This is in spite of the tortoise setting the house on fire at one point after knocking over a heat lamp. That's a story for another time.
But - and this is the big but of renting - even here in San Francisco with very strong tenant rights, an owner can move back into their house and take it off the market. This can happen with fairly little notice, and my understanding is that the protections are even weaker in Milwaukee. You will never have the same level of security in terms of where you live when you're renting as you do when you own a house - in most cases, you will only know year to year whether you'll be allowed to stay. That's the big if. You will need to keep a plan B around.
So, basically:
* Search and search until you find an old house owned by an idiosyncratic family landlord who doesn't mind animals. This will likely not be the first, second or tenth property owner you speak with. However, it does happen. If Craigslist doesn't work out, you might need to drive around and look for "For Rent" signs for this type of thing, the folks who are so small they don't even advertise.
* You're probably going to have to cover most everything if you want cheap rent.
* It's probably going to have crappy old appliances and be kind of a weird old house.
* Commit to putting some work into the house yourself even if it doesn't pay out in terms of general upkeep.
* Make sure the house is reasonably clean in spite of the animals in the event the landlord has to come over.
* I saw in the other thread that you had a 640 credit rating, and I don't think that's going to kill you. The average credit score is in the high 600s, so you're not far off. I'd recommend being honest with them and let them know that your credit score is meh due to medical bills so it doesn't come as a surprise. Work and personal references may come in handy here.
* Read the lease very carefully and clarify various situations that are not covered by the lease itself. Be sure to think/ask about seasonal issues that may not apply when you move in.
* You have to be ready for the possibility of finding a new place.
Hope this helps. It will be pretty hard to find the right place, but I don't think it's impossible.
On edit: I had a carpeted place in Milwaukee way back when, and I knew some other people who did too. I agree that hardwood is pretty common in the older houses around there, though.
posted by eschatfische at 12:49 PM on June 12, 2015
I have bad credit, and have rented four homes, all with a minimum of four cats and three dogs, in three different major metro areas. It's doable, but you'll make a lot of phone calls. I've found everywhere on Craigslist, and everywhere I've successfully rented has been a small-time landlord, half a dozen properties at most--no big property management places are going to take on someone with that many pets.
The fact that you owned your home works in your favor--people were often fairly sympathetic when I said, you know, we owned our home, but then the economy crashed, and [reasons, etc]. Explain that up front--say in your response to ads or whatever that this is the first home you're renting in a long time because you've owned, etc. Offer to provide proof of on-time mortgage payments. If you can explain your bad credit (catastrophic illness, job loss, etc), do that up front, too. People are often more accommodating when they find your story sympathetic. Which is kinda gross, but... If it's something you *can* work to your advantage, I would.
Offer to pay a nonrefundable pet fee up front sometimes helps, too. I've been most successful when I've been able to flat-out offer to pay a double security deposit. (Sometimes half of this is nonrefundable, which seems not unreasonable to me, but becomes a LOT OF MONEY if you think you might have to move again in a year.)
Most of the places that I've rented (and I've only ever rented single family homes or duplexes) cover yardcare, snow removal, water, and trash removal. The ones that didn't gave us some sort of a break on rent for it. (Like, explicitly: no pet rent if you do yardcare; rent is $x if landlord pays water and $y if tenant does.) This can be a double-edged sword--on one hand, someone else is dealing with things; on the other hand, you might find out that your landlord's preferred plow service doesn't start until twenty minutes after you're meant to leave for work, or that they have a very different idea of what an acceptable grass height is. Some places are more willing to let you have dogs if you offer to take care of the yard.
Don't sign a lease on a place with a monthly pet fee if you can possibly avoid it, especially a per-pet fee. If you think you're going to be in the place for more than a year, look seriously at the difference between a monthly pet fee and the place that's going to charge you a huge security deposit and never mention it again. Monthly pet fees are the absolute worst if you're going to be somewhere long term.
Renting for me has consistently been cheaper than buying, mostly because when the basement floods or a pipe bursts or the oven stops working, someone else has to pay to fix it, not me. If you're ok with the regular mortgage payment but find that the unexpected things tip you into disaster, renting a house is probably a great idea--if it's not, I suspect you're not going to save as much as you expect, especially because rental houses are often poorly insulated and very energy inefficient.
posted by MeghanC at 12:58 PM on June 12, 2015
The fact that you owned your home works in your favor--people were often fairly sympathetic when I said, you know, we owned our home, but then the economy crashed, and [reasons, etc]. Explain that up front--say in your response to ads or whatever that this is the first home you're renting in a long time because you've owned, etc. Offer to provide proof of on-time mortgage payments. If you can explain your bad credit (catastrophic illness, job loss, etc), do that up front, too. People are often more accommodating when they find your story sympathetic. Which is kinda gross, but... If it's something you *can* work to your advantage, I would.
Offer to pay a nonrefundable pet fee up front sometimes helps, too. I've been most successful when I've been able to flat-out offer to pay a double security deposit. (Sometimes half of this is nonrefundable, which seems not unreasonable to me, but becomes a LOT OF MONEY if you think you might have to move again in a year.)
Most of the places that I've rented (and I've only ever rented single family homes or duplexes) cover yardcare, snow removal, water, and trash removal. The ones that didn't gave us some sort of a break on rent for it. (Like, explicitly: no pet rent if you do yardcare; rent is $x if landlord pays water and $y if tenant does.) This can be a double-edged sword--on one hand, someone else is dealing with things; on the other hand, you might find out that your landlord's preferred plow service doesn't start until twenty minutes after you're meant to leave for work, or that they have a very different idea of what an acceptable grass height is. Some places are more willing to let you have dogs if you offer to take care of the yard.
Don't sign a lease on a place with a monthly pet fee if you can possibly avoid it, especially a per-pet fee. If you think you're going to be in the place for more than a year, look seriously at the difference between a monthly pet fee and the place that's going to charge you a huge security deposit and never mention it again. Monthly pet fees are the absolute worst if you're going to be somewhere long term.
Renting for me has consistently been cheaper than buying, mostly because when the basement floods or a pipe bursts or the oven stops working, someone else has to pay to fix it, not me. If you're ok with the regular mortgage payment but find that the unexpected things tip you into disaster, renting a house is probably a great idea--if it's not, I suspect you're not going to save as much as you expect, especially because rental houses are often poorly insulated and very energy inefficient.
posted by MeghanC at 12:58 PM on June 12, 2015
A lot of landlords will require proof of income in some areas. I'm looking for an apartment now and I saw one ad that specified "You must be able to demonstrate proof of income of at least $___ per month" where the amount was the income required for rent to be 30% of income. So that's something to be watching for, if you are used to pushing beyond 30% of your income going to housing.
posted by deathpanels at 2:28 PM on June 12, 2015
posted by deathpanels at 2:28 PM on June 12, 2015
Fish will be going in the basement wherever we end up. This is how friends in similar situations have rented with fish, and our basement is where they are housed now. Actually a few friends have said that multiple aquariums were usually the pet of least concern by their landlords. But of course landlords vary.
We are running into the ability to both pay for necessary repairs on our house and the time/ability to do the physical labor; even if we only broke even on the rent vs mortgage, we'd be getting ahead by downsizing and having less home and yard to maintain.
posted by [insert clever name here] at 4:31 PM on June 12, 2015
We are running into the ability to both pay for necessary repairs on our house and the time/ability to do the physical labor; even if we only broke even on the rent vs mortgage, we'd be getting ahead by downsizing and having less home and yard to maintain.
posted by [insert clever name here] at 4:31 PM on June 12, 2015
I can't speak specifically to many of the house-related questions, but I am an apartment renter in Milwaukee. We rent from Katz, which is one of the large property management companies in the area, and we've never had a problem finding a place that allowed pets in our apartment (we have two cats). At our first place, the leasing agent asked if the cats were declawed, I told him that the shelter we adopted them from had me sign an agreement I'd never declaw (which was true), but that we kept nails trimmed and had scratching stuff available for them to claw instead of the floor, and we were never asked about it again or charged an extra deposit.
Katz is not the most amazing in terms of maintenance follow-up, but more on the level of us having to call them a few times before they actually push our requests to the top of the pile, and not really on the level of actual neglect or refusal to fix things. They're fairly hands-off, which I actually prefer to landlords who come over to "check things" without notice or who are micromanage-y of our housekeeping. I'm not sure how many house listings they have compared to apartments that are in buildings, but it might be worth it to check their site. Overall, Milwaukee is a pretty good market to live in for renters - there are a LOT of apartments for rent at any given time, and that gives you a decent amount of power as a renter to get what you want. Also feel free to memail me if you have any other Milwaukee-specific rental questions - I may not have specific answers but my husband and I JUST moved from one Milwaukee apartment to another, so we just went through a lot of the typical rental search issues ourselves. Hope the search goes well!
posted by augustimagination at 4:34 PM on June 12, 2015
Katz is not the most amazing in terms of maintenance follow-up, but more on the level of us having to call them a few times before they actually push our requests to the top of the pile, and not really on the level of actual neglect or refusal to fix things. They're fairly hands-off, which I actually prefer to landlords who come over to "check things" without notice or who are micromanage-y of our housekeeping. I'm not sure how many house listings they have compared to apartments that are in buildings, but it might be worth it to check their site. Overall, Milwaukee is a pretty good market to live in for renters - there are a LOT of apartments for rent at any given time, and that gives you a decent amount of power as a renter to get what you want. Also feel free to memail me if you have any other Milwaukee-specific rental questions - I may not have specific answers but my husband and I JUST moved from one Milwaukee apartment to another, so we just went through a lot of the typical rental search issues ourselves. Hope the search goes well!
posted by augustimagination at 4:34 PM on June 12, 2015
I am a long way from Milwaukee but just went through the rental process. Here, having good credit is a major issue for some landlords and not at all an issue for others. If you can figure out which property management companies care about that, it will make your search process easier.
Pets were the biggest issue here -- in a tight rental market, I found that most landlords just listed "no pets" as an easy way to filter out complications; larger management companies had no flexibility but small landlords on craigslist were willing to talk.
posted by Dip Flash at 9:40 PM on June 12, 2015
Pets were the biggest issue here -- in a tight rental market, I found that most landlords just listed "no pets" as an easy way to filter out complications; larger management companies had no flexibility but small landlords on craigslist were willing to talk.
posted by Dip Flash at 9:40 PM on June 12, 2015
My studio appartment from years ago was Katz! I had two cats and a walk in closet full of fish back then. Glad to hear they haven't really changed on that front.
posted by [insert clever name here] at 9:47 PM on June 12, 2015
posted by [insert clever name here] at 9:47 PM on June 12, 2015
Say we do year to year, and the landlord sells the house, does that change things?
When I rented, the building was sold and I was given 60 days to move, even though it was in the middle of my lease. A few years later a different building I was renting in was for sale, and the landlord scheduled showings all the time. That made me decide to buy a house.
Have you looked at rental rates in the neighborhood where you want to move? Rent in most parts of the country has gone way up; if I had to rent again, the cost would be WAY more than my mortgage payment even for a really crappy apartment.
posted by Violet Hour at 10:09 PM on June 12, 2015
When I rented, the building was sold and I was given 60 days to move, even though it was in the middle of my lease. A few years later a different building I was renting in was for sale, and the landlord scheduled showings all the time. That made me decide to buy a house.
Have you looked at rental rates in the neighborhood where you want to move? Rent in most parts of the country has gone way up; if I had to rent again, the cost would be WAY more than my mortgage payment even for a really crappy apartment.
posted by Violet Hour at 10:09 PM on June 12, 2015
In the last six years, I've been a leasing agent, property manager and owner of a property management company. I've seen some terrible damage from irresponsible pet owners. I've also had good experiences renting to pet owners.
What would make me inclined to rent a house to people with animals:
Visiting their current residence and making sure it doesn't smell like urine or worse.
A letter from their veterinarian certifying that pets were up to date on vaccinations, or copies of the records.
Renter's insurance covering pet damage and injuries.
Fish tanks in the basement I would have no problem with.
posted by Melsky at 6:05 AM on June 13, 2015
What would make me inclined to rent a house to people with animals:
Visiting their current residence and making sure it doesn't smell like urine or worse.
A letter from their veterinarian certifying that pets were up to date on vaccinations, or copies of the records.
Renter's insurance covering pet damage and injuries.
Fish tanks in the basement I would have no problem with.
posted by Melsky at 6:05 AM on June 13, 2015
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This time we want to rent a house
In my experience (Minneapolis), renting a house is usually just as expensive or more then owning. The only difference is repairs which usually makes owning more expensive, but some landlords will also jack up the price to cover their repairs plus some so you really need to do some comparison on the pros/cons financially.
However, that still leaves us with cats, tortoise, and lots of aquariums
Again, depending on your area - this is a HUGE obstacle. I've never rented a single place that would let a tortoise reside there and most places are 1-2 cats max; I've also rented homes until I bought this year. Good luck, this one alone I would say you may be out of the renting market on.
For tips on this, outside of Craigslist, and referrals - I can't think of a single tip of find a place that would take multiple cats, a tortoise and fish tanks.
What kind of things can we expect in a lease? What kind of obligation do landlords have in terms of renewing the lease? Say we do year to year, and the landlord sells the house, does that change things? When renting houses, is the lease terms different?
Again, depending on your area things may be different but the general advice is this - the lease is the legally binding contract. If it's not in the lease, it's not enforceable in a court of law. State laws can triumph this in terms of things like repairs and other various aspects, but generally most everything should be included in the lease including what's covered by the landlord. Things like switching out lightbulbs are generally not covered, but a busted toilet, leaky roof, etc. are covered and if the landlord doesn't want to be bothered by this - RUN from the rental. Yard maintenance is a different story, some landlords will want to maintain the lawns, others couldn't care less; same thing with snow - the places I've rented have always included a lawn mower as part of the rental but I've had to buy my own shovels for snow.
In terms of selling, looks like in WI, you are immediately out on the street. Sucks - sorry but it doesn't look like you have a whole lot of protection in this.
Leases run in terms of length all across the board - I've had month to month, yearly, 6 months, etc. I don't think this is much different then renting an apartment.
Conversely, what kind of things allow us to break a lease. Going back to the concern about allergies, what if the place turns out to be mold infested and we don't know until we've moved in, etc . . .
Check the lease for exact clauses and your state's website but generally things like mold or other factors that make a place uninhabitable are valid reasons to either withhold rent (DO NOT DO THIS WITHOUT CONSULTING WITH A LAWYER FIRST) or break the lease outright. Generally breaking the lease or withholding rents are absolute last resorts and must go through legal processes first.
posted by lpcxa0 at 11:43 AM on June 12, 2015