Advice on being a more desirable tenant?

[womet]

I've heard some people writing a letter when buying a house, trying to appeal to their emotional side. Could you do that?

[panicked]

I'd offer half of the rent for March. They would see that you're not going to flake.

[msmerymac]

Giving yourself 5 weeks to move is really quite luxurious. I did that when we moved to our current place 4.5 years ago. Of course... now we're packing for a cross country move over about a 3 week period and have 2 days to pack the truck.

Unless you are hiring full service movers, that is.

[Deleted]

I think if you are looking to move a month later than someone else then there's not a lot you can do if you're not willing to pay anything extra. Maybe hope the other people have a shitty credit check and rental history?

[y4m]

I think it's unlikely that anything of no cost to you, like a letter or other intangible, would cause a landlord to give up $2000 out of their pocket. You may be looking too early for the DC market.

[LoveTrains]

Yeah, as a landlord I am meeting all the tenants myself so there isn't really a letter or anything that they could do that would make them more desirable.

What would be desirable to me would be you doing a March 15th or a two year lease.

But just like you don't want to pay $2000 or $1000 to move in early, they don't want to lose $2000 to hold the apartment vacant for a month.

[dexteroni]

I can't think of anything that would entice a landlord to forfeit $2000 if they can get it from someone else. Any chance you can get out of your current lease a month early? If not, you should probably only look at apartments that are available in April.

[hannamaren]

You are probably looking too early. We have had to pay overlapping leases for 2 weeks on our last 2 places. But mostly because I dont like to leave things until the last minute.

Sucks.

[emilyinchile]

Can you offer multiple months of rent upfront? They may prefer to have $6000 now (Apr-Jun, or however many months you could swing) vs. $2000 in March. That's really my only idea, and I don't know if it's realistic for you or something that would appeal to the landlord.

[Deleted]

Jan 16, 2013 20:45:43 GMT -5 hannamaren said:

You are probably looking too early. We have had to pay overlapping leases for 2 weeks on our last 2 places. But mostly because I dont like to leave things until the last minute.

Sucks.

We've had to do it even though we were doing things at the last minute.  You kind of have to things last minute here -- when we were looking to move because our lease was up on August 31, we started looking on July 25 (I remember because it was my birthday), NOTHING good was available.  All that was being shown were apartments that were empty from the prior month with good reason.  Landlords here generally only show empty apartments, so good stuff doesn't start coming onto the market until after the old tenants move out and the landlord had a few days to clean and list, so really you want to be looking on the 3rd-5th or so for a move on the 30th.  And even then, landlords want the lease to start the day after the new paint has dried, so we were probably lucky that when we found an apartment on August 5th, we were able to push the lease start date out to August 15.  I think that's just how it works in a hot rental market -- landlords want money ASAP, and that's how you get them to work with you.  If you won't give them money ASAP, someone else will, and that person will get the apartment instead.

[vanillacourage]

Could you sign an 18mo lease? Or ditto PP about paying several months up-front.

Beyond that there's not much you can do but cross your fingers. Good luck!

[kwynn]

I thought overlapping for a month or two was normal...that's what I've always had to do?

[ESF]

Jan 16, 2013 20:01:32 GMT -5 panicked said:

I'd offer half of the rent for March. They would see that you're not going to flake.

This is what we did when we found our place under similar circumstances.  The landlord agreed.  For us it was worth it, as we are still in the place five years later, and don't plan on leaving anytime soon.  (and the landlord loves us, so it probably worked out for her too)

Mentally, if you take that $1000 and spread it out over a year, is this place worth $85 more a month in rent than someplace else?  If the answer is yes, then try it.

[hbomdiggity]

We've always had at least 2 weeks overlap, even in DC. part of the reason moving every year sucks.

Another consideration would be giving notice to your current place early, such that you could offer them to be out by March 30. Them being able to market the unit as ready April 1 will be more marketable than a weird mid month option.

[aspentosh]

As a landlord, I'd want a longer lease (you don't want to do that) or money up front. I've quickly learned it's a business deal, so emotion doesn't really play into it.

Sorry you found the perfect place and the timing is off!!

[mrssandro]

Jan 16, 2013 20:02:59 GMT -5 swizz said:

Jan 16, 2013 20:01:32 GMT -5 panicked said:

I'd offer half of the rent for March. They would see that you're not going to flake.

So we'd move in on March 15? That's still $1000 and I'm not jazzed to do that... We might just keep looking if it comes to that.

I may be worth it to pay for half a month. That way you have time to slowly get everything in place.

[Raggedeannie]

Swizz, what about putting up an ad on Craigslist to sublet your current place for the month of March? Do you have minimal furniture you could leave behind (spare bed, futon, or couch...?)? DC has such a churn of interns you might just get lucky. I know some of the interns who've come through my office have bounced around apartments for the right location and price. This seems to be what a lot of people do to get some of their money back when you have to overlap leases like this. Maybe you'd get someone for 2-3 weeks at least so you wouldn't be out the full 2k.

[Susie]

Jan 16, 2013 20:12:06 GMT -5 swizz said:

Jan 16, 2013 20:10:48 GMT -5 cuadrado said:

I think if you are looking to move a month later than someone else then there's not a lot you can do if you're not willing to pay anything extra. Maybe hope the other people have a shitty credit check and rental history?

Yeah, that's what I'm thinking. I was just curious if there were any non-monetary things that might sway a landlord.

I'd be surprised.   Sellers (of their own homes) tend to be a lot more emotionally invested than landlords, so that stuff has more pull.  Sorry.

[minniebee]

Jan 16, 2013 20:39:01 GMT -5 swizz said:

Well in our defense, I e-mailed them and said our desired move-in date was April 1 and were they flexible and her response was, "yeah, we could definitely work with that."

I likely wouldn't have even gone to see it if she had been so insistent on that timeline in her e-mails.

In her defense ... she probably meant that they could work with April 1 if they couldn't find someone else for March 1. 

I'm a landlord, and when this has come up at our rental, I always say something along the lines of "we really prefer a tenant for March 1 so the place isn't vacant for a month. However, if we can't find a qualified tenant for that March, we will wait until April in order to get a qualified renter."

[dexteroni]

Jan 16, 2013 20:39:01 GMT -5 swizz said:

Jan 16, 2013 20:33:19 GMT -5 dexteroni said:

I can't think of anything that would entice a landlord to forfeit $2000 if they can get it from someone else. Any chance you can get out of your current lease a month early? If not, you should probably only look at apartments that are available in April.

Well in our defense, I e-mailed them and said our desired move-in date was April 1 and were they flexible and her response was, "yeah, we could definitely work with that."

I likely wouldn't have even gone to see it if she had been so insistent on that timeline in her e-mails.

From your OP it sounds like you were the first ones to show interest. So she was probably just being smart and keeping all of the options open in case no good prospects came through for March.  But if one does, I can't imagine why she would turn them away to wait for you. Sorry! I know it's not what you want to hear. Hopefully we're all wrong and she will hold it for you for free for some bizarre reason. Good luck!

[kitty]

Maybe "work with that" was code for meeting halfway at March 15?

Did you fill out an application/pay for a credit check? We were in a similar situation a few years ago and the landlord ended up waiting the month because both of our credit scores came back over 800, which must have bested the competition. MM FTW!