Having experience in looking for a rental in the last few years, my take:
1) You can research the previous sales history (price and date) on any number of websites of any house you are interested in. For example, a house that sold for $200,000 in the 1980’s is probably a better bet than one that was purchased at $600,000 in 2006. You can’t guard against the long-term owner having borrowed against the mystical value of their house during the boom years, but this should give you an idea of whether or not it’s even possible the landlord is cash-flow neutral with the rent they are proposing. If it’s NOT cash-flow neutral, don’t go for it.
2) Meet the landlord: ask yourself, do I want to do business with this person? ask what they do for a living. ask why they are renting the unit. ask how many other units they manage and how long they have been renting property — are they all within their residential area? will they manage the unit themselves? ask how long they have been in the area. ask how they want the property maintained (you do it? them? their property manager?) and listen closely not only to the content of the answer but how they answer it. basically ask enough questions that generate enough data for you establish a fact pattern, but make it a conversation. you’re interviewing them as much as they are interviewing you. while they run a credit check on you (if you get this far), you can check them out too.
4) Social media — google the person after you meet. it’s time to compare against the fact pattern they gave you. see whether or not you find a picture of the person who met you, and has the same name as whom they met. see if you find the website for their employer, or if self-employed, their website. if they give a professional property manager, google that and look for complaints. if you really want to pay for it, you can use intelius.com or some other background check site to get their previous residential history and compare against whatever story they’ve told you. you could look for bankruptcies too.
5) gut check your head answer from questions 1-4. basically, do you trust this person to deliver or not?
deal with someone professional who can be unemotional about renting out the property.
