[quote=SD Realtor]Yes my sfr in sd is rented to a family with a child. My condo is not. My out of state rentals have two families and one couple woth no kids. I have been a landlord for 9 years now and have never had anyone skip out on rent or have any party animal tenants that you referred two. Prior to getting out of state sfrs I rented exclusively to single people or couples without kids and never had any problems. By far the homes with children have required more work when turnover occurs.
This is based on experience rather then speculation.[/quote]
My experience with renting to families was also that they required more work. There was often crayon on the wall, stains on the floors (due to crafts/paint), playdoh stuck to the carpet, a “snuck-in” cat who tore up the blinds/drapery, marbles in the garbage disposer which ruined it, paint spilled on the patio, carbuereter cleaned with “Gumout” on the LR floor. Often the parents didn’t clean up when they moved and I kept their deposit, which they didn’t care about. Back then, I could only collect about $650 in damage deposit. When I tried to ask for more, I didn’t get any applications. Upon move-outs, I usually spent between $75 – $150 to rent a carpet cleaner and the rest on missing parts, repair items and dump fees. The other $500 paid me for my time (often 2 full wknds and 2-4 weeknights of cleaning, painting and making repairs between tenants. I also worked 40 hrs per week during the day back then and my spouse was often deployed.
After nine years of this, I was tired, sold at a break even/small loss and called it a day. Landlording isn’t for everyone. I DID take several tenants to small claims court for excess damages and was able to collect only about $360 or so. The rest of them were VERY problematic to collect on.
Fortunately, typical damage deposits are MUCH higher today and a prospective landlord can run a credit report on a tenant-applicant and also now see online whether they have had a local unlawful detainer action filed against them. This was not possible back then. Upon receiving a “qualified” application, I just called “previous landlords” (after being given their phone numbers by my applicants), verified their employment and checked the civil register in person for UD’s (if the applicants were “local”). For all I know, I was probably talking to their “relatives,” lol (instead of former landlords). Some of my tenants transferred to SD thru the military from out of state.
