KNOW YOUR LANDLORD
Before you even start looking for a rental, take time to think what type of place you want to rent, who your landlord is going to be and who manages your property. They'll all have a big impact on your happiness in your new home.
There are usually 3 types of situations
1. Private Landlord Who Manage Their Own Properties
This is someone like me. An individual who has bought 1-10 rental properties as investments and manages them themselves.
Pros
+ Can be very flexible. It's one person making their own decision, not an employee who has to follow company rule book
+ They care, their rentals are their retirement fund so keeping a well maintained property is in their best interest
+ You get their phone number, if something goes wrong, you call the owner, not an office that is only staffed 8 hours a day
+ They can be flexible with move in/move out dates or length of leases or if you need to break a lease (sometimes!)
+ If you treat my property well, I keep your rent reasonable and don't do an automatic annual increase.
+ They can charge lower rent because they are not paying for property management or head office
Cons
- These are individuals, not always trained on how to deal with tenants and may not know all the rules
- Again, these are individuals, people can be cool or crazy. Use your common sense when meeting them
- At move out time, they use their opinion, not company standards on what is reasonable wear & tear v damage.
2. Property Management Company
These are local companies who manage properties for private landlords
Pros
+ They have a large inventory to choose from
+ They have move in and move out standard checklists to protect you and them
+ You can call and ask what they have coming up for rent in 3/6/9 months ( private landlords generally only advertise 30 days out)
Cons
- They charge you for everything. Application fee, pet fee, every scratch on a wall
- They manage hundreds or thousands of properties. You're a number to them
- They can be hard to get a hold of for everything from trying to view the property to getting repairs done.
- They need approval from the owner for anything. Things can take longer to get fixed/approved
- They are inflexible. If you sign a lease and want to get out early, be prepared to pay for it.
3. Corporate Owned Large Apartment Complexes
Pros
+ Usually brand new and in excellent condition
+ On site representative who you can go see if you need anything
+ Lots of amenities
+ They can run specials with free/reduced rent
+ Some do shorter term rentals (3-6 months)
Cons
- They are expensive. Those amenities and fancy apartments cost money
- They charge for everything
- They can be inflexible