Landlord and Tenant Relationship in Florida – Common Pitfalls I
June 22nd, 2010 categories: General RE Info
Landlord and Tenant Act
As stated in their web site “The Division of Consumer Services is the state’s clearinghouse for consumer complaints, protection and information…” and in accordance with it’s mission it has a great publication describing in plain English the rights and responsibilities of a Landlord/Tenant Relationship.
Almost everyone by now takes good care of having signed leases before rental tenancies start. Even though most of the times the terms are negotiated upfront, you have to be very careful and think of “what if scenarios” before having a final lease signed.
Common Pitfalls:
-Tenant was accepted without proper due diligence:
Finding out about a tenant’s credit history, past evictions, criminal background is like playing lottery without even buying a ticket. I am not saying that by doing so you are 100% protected but at least you know something about your partner in paying the mortgage. Some tenants don’t understand that a landlord may be jeopardizing it’s own credit when they don’t pay on time. I have seen hundreds of credit reports in my years in real estate and I can tell you that you find two kinds of bad credit: the one due to an specific circumstance (loss of job, sickness, etc…) and some with a consistent history of bad financial decisions. I don’t say someone with bad credit shouldn’t be accepted because, it is about taking preventive actions like collecting additional deposits, requesting cosigners,…
Going even further…what happens if you allow to move into your property someone with serious criminal background? What about a sex offender moves in and your home is next to a school’s bus stop. Or, what about a house rented to a drug dealer that is torn apart by the DEA searching for drugs hidden within the walls. Should I say anything else???
One of the big complaints we get from tenants is when they have to be run by an association too, an additional cost that seems to be for the same purpose. Actually even though it has the same process the problem is that associations don’t share with Landlord’s their findings and normally they reject tenants only based in criminal background. There are just a few associations that are very strict about credit. So, how can a property owner make an informed decision on the tenant?
If a Tenant doesn’t understand the need of screenings previous to moving into a property or refuses to be screened I would run in another direction. Money can be an issue, but in this case saving less that $100 can cost thousand of dollars.
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Trulia’s Real Estate Index Rent vs Buy Ratio
June 15th, 2010 categories: General RE Info, Market Update, Tips For Buyers
If you are Renting consider Buying!
As we all know Real Estate prices are very attractive and Mortgage Interest Rates are at historically low rates.
The Real Estate Site Trulia published an interesting article about what is a better financial move… Should we Rent? Should we Buy? As per the study that included many several cities in USA including Miami; in Miami, Fl the Price vs Rent Ratio is 8.
“Price-to-Rent Ratio of 1-15: It is much less expensive to own than to rent a home in this city”
www.trulia.com
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