I have no idea why renting out cheaper apt is harder.

after more than a month. same questions how much and what utilities are included and where what neighborhood. am i a agent. is it a basement? etc...

*sigh i thought i made my craigs list ad with all those listed out right.

I bet some people just have a set email that they copy and send to all apartments they are interested in. I was annoyed by how often listings in the "by owner" or "no fee" section were really agents and the apartment had a fee. I even had one lie on the phone about those points and when I showed up and found out the truth I just left.

I'll never forget seeing a place listed as an spacious 800 sf 1 (queen) bedroom. It was probably about 450 square feet at most and the queen bed in the "bedroom" touched all four walls and had no door or closet. When looking at apartments here, you tend to end up suspicious of the ads.

Does your ad have pictures? I think that helps a lot.

yeah it does .

i'm just so tired of idiots calling. i mean i had one supposedly a cop curse me out LOL. when he called he demanded to know everything that I already listed. so i try to explain to him what exactly he needs to know. he kept interrogating me, he than gets all uppity and goes i'm a police officer and people like you want people like me to rent. curses me and hangups.

I got another idiot who argued with me demanding to do a credit/background check on me since that's what i listed on my ad. He was like so is the credit and background check really necessary. i said yes. and he goes well how bout I do a check on you. So I go well that's not a reasonable request. He goes well I demand a check on you. Told him it isn't going to work etc.. he kept ranting on how unfair it is and still demands a check of me. The guy went on.

Haha...sounds like possible tenants are doing a good job of weeding themselves out for you. Those both sound like troublesome neighbors.

Where's the place at? I hope I stay where I am (cheap rent, huge space, AND I'm the super), but if the foreclosure goes through and some bank forces me to move, I'm thinking "South Slope" for my next place.

You know armchair, you and me do similar things except I rent commercial space and my family owns none of the property. For you to portray yourself as the terminal victim in everything you do is absurd. You might consider the fact that moving is one of the most stressful things for people to do, just behind a death, divorce and major illness. Get a thicker skin and cut these people some slack.

^^ I don't agree ModSq. These people seem above and beyond unreasonable.

AW, it sounds contrary to any reason but maybe you should weed out these people by raising the price of your rental. Seriously, it sounds bad, but it's worked for the friends I have that rent out their property.

PM me if you want to talk more details. I can connect you with a friend who can give you more advice.

Do you have a link to the ad? It kinda sounds like you've put something in it to attract the mentalists...

Mamacita wrote:

AW, it sounds contrary to any reason but maybe you should weed out these people by raising the price of your rental. Seriously, it sounds bad, but it's worked for the friends I have that rent out their property. [redacted]

Mamacita, your statement reeks of classism. You imply that people of little means are boorish threatening morlocks. Nothing could be farther from the truth. I rent space that goes for $200 a sq ft and up and the only difference between AW's potential tenants and mine is mine have the ability to make good on their threats.

Modsq, I like your posts and I tend to agree with your opinions, but I am far from that. Dude, I'm poor as fuck, and come from a welfare and food stamp family. So, no I'm not from the class you label me in and not saying anything other than maybe AW needs to ignore these weird applicants and not think they are the only fish in the sea.

modsquad from your post history, i know you hate landlords. anyway from my personal experiences the bottom of the market sucks. I never had this much trouble renting out prospect heights stuff even when it was kinda sketchy.

anyway i'm tired.

its the same ad on this forums apartment section. i'm planning to delete it. no longer going to rent it out myself.

AW I sent you a PM.

AW -

CL people are STUPID (also land of the cheap)

I just sold a TV on there.

here is a quick rundown.

Vizio brand
42 inch
NO STAND
NO SPEAKERS ATTACHED (they were removable, so i got rid of them and connected the TV to my theater system). The sound works when connected, but you need to provide the speakers.


no need to go into the rest of the post.

What is the #1 question?

"does this have speakers?"
"Does the sound work?"

The winner though was
"Are you sure it doesnt have speakers? Maybe they are hidden inside the tv and you need to unmute it" <- that was over the phone.

no..im not sure i disconnected the removable speakers and got rid of them. bunch of morons on there.

Finally sold my TV to someone who completely understood

Armchair... I know it's frustrating... BUT think about "me" before you go the route of the real estate agent. And my "me" I mean people like me.

I don't have an extra few thousand dollars burning a hole in my pocket.

If I have that money in my pocket, I probably want it / need it for something else. Maybe even an emergency? It's not very nice to always live with $82 as your life savings because you spend all of your money on the 43 minutes you spend with a rental agent.

I really only like to use craigslist and word-of-mouth when finding a new apartment. This is COMPLETELY financially motivated. I simply cannot afford First, Last, Security AND a 10-15% fee!!! For a $1300 apartment, that's $5,772 all at once. Do you have this kicking around? Keep in mind that includes the 12% agent fee of $1,872. ONE THOUSAND EIGHT HUNDRED DOLLARS that does absolutely nothing to provide food or shelter for me.

Also -- do you really think the agent is going to magically provide this perfect tenant? Those dumbasses that e-mail you --- well, the agent is being paid to tolerate these idiots. These are the ones that are moving into your apartment!

Be patient, weed through the e-mail... only respond to the reasonable people that took a bit of effort to ask intelligent questions. And you'll end up with a good tenant like "me."

Craigslist is so bad in so many ways, scams, dumbass people, lazy bastards, fake job listings.. you name it.

Now for your viewing pleasure:

The tenants that I got from craigslist were a nightmare - I actually had one ask what I would do if he couldn't pay the rent one month (um, does NOT RENT TO YOU seem harsh?). Another wanted to know if it could be negotiated to a weekly rental. Another wanted to know if the could put up a partition wall in the bedrooms - well, you get the picture.

After my experience with craigslist, I did go to a real estate agent. The rental agent promised credit checks, references, etc. but was unable to deliver on any one prospective tenant she found. Given that she earned her commission only if the tenants took the apartment, didn't need rocket science to figure out where HER interests were.

The best tenants I had were either from the local paper (yes, I paid a small fee to run the ad), the local church bulletin and word of mouth. These tenants ended up staying with me for 10+ years. Because these tenants were so good, I did not raise the rent at any time during their time with me.

Don't give up - there are some good tenants out there. Takes some effort to find them but once you find them, hang on to them.

all my tenants are from craigs list and some are from their recommendations.

this one for some reason is getting tons of trouble.

anyway yeah deleted the ad . still thinking of going realtor, i hate them. but its very frustrating.

pm you back with details. i think.

An agent might take longer then you would like. I would just keep on filtering the craigslist nut cases. If going the agent route, make sure to give it to several agents. Don't give anyone the exclusive. Good luck