FOR RENT
Posted on November 28, 2005 - Filed Under Business |
‘ve been stalling these past few weeks because someone knows someone who’s looking for a place to rent.
I can’t stall anymore.
I’ve also decided to use westsiderentals.com. I’ve used this service before when looking for an apartment. How this works is you pay for this service for 3 months. During these three months, you have access to all kinds of listings with photographs, floor plans, etc. You can search by number of bedrooms, number of bathrooms, etc.
As a renter, I was charged for this service. As a landlord, this service is free. I like "free". I figured that there are many more renters out there versus landlords. Now I’m a registered landlord with their website and my property is listed. Also for free, they are sending a photographer out to the house to take several photos of it. And he will bring a "FOR RENT" sign for the front yard, indicating to people how to apply.
I elected to go through westsiderentals.com for two reasons. First, I have identified the kind of people that I want to rent the house to. Professionals. I want people who have jobs, sit in front of a computer all day, and eat lunch in their cubicle. Second, the type of people who use westsiderentals.com are in a decent income bracket and have already paid the fee to use the website. If people are too cheap to pay for the service, or don’t have the money, then I don’t want them.
Two barriers to entry.
Credit Checks: In addition to the landlord association, westsiderentals.com gives me the option to be able to run credit checks through their website. Of course I have to be registered to do so which I’m in the process of doing. I am thinking that one stop shopping for a renter would be the best way to proceed. Westsiderentals.com prides themselves on pairing good tenants with good landlords. Just part of the process.
Historical Information: One thing that westsiderentals.com does not do is track all the "historical" information. The landlord association tracks people in their database. If they were good tenants, then the landlord fills out a piece of paper stating that the tenants were good. If they weren’t, for whatever reason, the landlord can inform the association and it will be in their records.
So, for instance, let’s say some former tenants of yours stole a stove, refrigerator, skipped out on last months rent, stole the toilet seat lids, left 1 ton of garbage in your yard (sound familiar?) then I can report them to the landlord association. The next time those tenants fill out an application, the landlord can check with the landlord association and see all those things that are not on the credit report. In this case, the tenants stole everything under the sun. And their records with the landlord association reflect that.
Yes, I do believe in karma.
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