Rental Market

[sdduuuude]

Or, maybe say you want a gardener included.

[MANmom]

Boy, we will sit tight and shut up…we rent a 2500 SF house ON THE CANYON in PQ for $2195…we have been here for 3 years and the view is great from here. Our landlord has had the house since it was built, so she is showing a healthy profit. We keep her happy by doing simple repairs ourselves and not bothering her with the small stuff, we are lucky! Renting is good!

[picpoule]

I agree, as a landlord, I don’t like to lose a good tenant. I raise the rent when the tenant moves out. I don’t have an ARM on that property, thank goodness!

[Anonymous]

As a landlord I appreciated tenants who took care of the small stuff. The last thing I wanted to do was run them off by raising rents. My dad and I bought five individual 1 bdrm condos around Long Beach in the late 90’s for $26,900 to $40,000 each (paying cash so we could steal them) and we were getting $750-$850/mo. in rent. We sold in summer of ’04 and made healthy profits. I didn’t raise the rents until the units vacated. If they’d nickel and dimed me it might have been different, but the regular cashflow was important to my semi-retired father.

I now rent a 1920’s bungalow in LA with my partner who’s been there for 5 years. Landlord lives in back house, we’re in front house. We pay $890 a month. Ours has been a rental since the back house was built in 1961 and it showed.

Recipe: Take two gay male tenants (us), add elbow grease, TLC, lots of fairy dust and POOF, the landlord gets an improved rental property. We felt guilty about only paying $890 a month and recently asked the landlord if he needed to raise the rent. He said NO!

Landlord’s in his 60’s and has owned the property since 1971. His kids are grown & gone, he’s nearing retirement. He’d be crazy to run us off and he knows it.

Each situation is different and that’s what you need to factor in. I’d still shop around and see what else is out there – but be sure you have an understanding of the prospective landlord’s situation before you negotiate to move into his/her property. They know all about you before they rent to you – it’s only fair you know something about them.

[Author]

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