Mortgage/renting/new home questions

[TheGrey]

Don't rent to someone on HUD vouchers without doing a thorough background.
Be sure to do a thorough background on potential renters- don't pay for one of those online backgrounds.

Make sure your rental contract is iron-clad, and don't be a softie. If you don't stick to your guns, you chance renting to someone that will end up costing you money. If you have a 'no pets' clause, the moment you allow them to have pets means you lose any control over your home: 15 cats, or a pack of pit bulls or beagles that will eat the bottoms of every door in the house. Give an inch, and they will take a mile. Sob stories tend to leave landlord$ de$titute and without recour$e for monetary recompen$e.

I realize there are very fine renters out there in the world, but being completely cynical can save you money and heartache.

Any changes to your rental contract needs to be in writing, signed and dated by both renters and landlord.

Be aware that you can put in anything you like in your contract- so DO. My parents were landlords, and learned the hard way. There are some powerfully stupid people out there. My folks had to put the following into the rental agreement:

That the renters:

-use trash bags in the trash cans
-that trash bags must be tied and contained in covered trash cans, and may only be set out the night before trash pick-up
-if pets are allowed, any animal waste must be picked up X number of times per week
-emergency repairs must be reported to you immediately (or specific contractors must be called, etc)
-any damage must be reported to you within X hours
- the landlord will give X hours notice before walk-throughs
- don't allow smoking (of anything)
- put in a clause about forbidding any "marijuana grow operations" inside or outside of the house; you may forbid the presence of pot plants altogether
- anything that makes your job as a landlord harder. If you don't want them to put nails into your walls, you can add that. If you don't want them to paint the walls, you can add that.

It's definitely a landlord's market. You can be as picky as you like. This is your home; make sure you rent to someone that doesn't have a habit of burning landlords and trashing the homes they use. Make sure that they don't have a ton of judgments following them, and make sure they don't have a criminal record.

Sorry for the long post; you probably knew all of this anyhow. Good luck!