Renting Primary Residence, but.....scared to Show It - HELP!

I would strongly recommend packing 75% of what you own FIRST. Essentially pack for a long trip in a vacation home that doesn't supply dishes and towels... and then box up ABSOLUTELY EVERYTHING ELSE including most of your furniture (and yes, most of your children's things... they'll be fine... and from a LOT of past experience... not having their usual odds and ends for a few months makes it like xmas when you do unpack).

This has several upsides:

- Less stuff to "case" (aka what you're having anxiety over)

- Easy to paint the walls (needed before you lease your home / required by law in most states, but I don't know about MI), steam clean the carpets, etc.

- Tenants have different furniture and decorating items than you do. Just like in selling a home, you'll get more/better prospective tennants with a "blank slate" for them to imagine their own furniture, pictures, etc in the house. Make sure your own furniture that you aren't packing up immediately is staged

- Makes moving a breeze, because all the "hard" work is already done. All you have to do is rent one truck... move everything in a morning, set them up in the afternoon and then UNPACK THE REST at your leisure over the next several weeks/months.

*** If you have an extensive movie collection make sure you pack that as well. Buy a CD wallet for some of the kid's favorites and you're good to go. As a matter of fact, it was so liberating using a wallet during one move we just bought a couple big wallets... one for our son's, one for educational DVDs... and one for grownup movies. Ditto... pack up as much of your electronics as you can get by without.

We are two years ahead of where you are. We found wonderful tenants on Craigslist. I found a company that does a background/ credit check.

I started my posting right after Thanksgiving and needed people moved in by January 1st. I got nervous because for about three weeks I did not get any response. I actually lowered the asking rent by two hundred.

A week later, I received all sorts of calls and emails. I wished that I had not lowered the rent because what I discovered was that renters don't start looking six weeks in advance.

By the time, I had renters looking at the home, I was almost all packed (so a lot of the 'stuff' was not available to 'case'.

You do put yourself out there. And we did meet some individuals that were strange. We were purchasing new carpet for the home and one prospective renter wanted us to put cement throughout the downstairs instead. I did not ask her her opinion of what I should do, just wanted her to know that the existing carpet would be replaced.

Our renters are wonderful people. They pay their rent on time if not before every month. Though we certainly did a credit and background check, my gut told me that we would be renting to them before they filled out our application.

Good luck! It's hard the first time and certainly there are bad situations and stories out there but take your time, use your head and it will all work out.

before you show it have them pre-qualifiy or pre screen them. Just think if you were selling and had a realtor showing it. And if they say no then you have your answer.

I would show it or you'll end up paying two mortgages. You can always send rental applications to local private investigators. They can do a quick background check and credit checks for usually about $20-$25 (funny isn't that what applications fees tend to run??)
On the other hand, I'd feel weird about bringing people through when the kids are home. Maybe arrange for showings ahead of time and take the kids for a ride in the car while the house is being shown. Good luck!!

Unfortunately there's really no way to rent your house without showing it. Pack away your valuables, clean your house, then have rental applications on hand to give to prospective tenants. Make sure they fill out those applications so that you can run background and credit checks on them. It might also be a good idea to join a landlord's group...I wish I could tell you the one my husband uses, but he's out of town and I can't remember what it is. Anyway, for a small fee, they run all the checks for you. Make sure you have a lease agreement, get EVERYTHING in writing, no handshake deals here. Meet personally with EVERY prospective tenant. If you're advertising on Craigslist, DO NOT respond when someone from London who is an architect or a scientist from Stockholm wants to rent your house sight unseen and wants a copy of your lease agreement and room dimensions. There are scammers out there, but by having common sense and realizing that if something seems too good to be true, it's probably a scam, you'll be fine. Good luck!

We were in the same boat 5 months ago. We were building a house and trying to rent out our current one. Because we live near several colleges we knew the house would have to be rented before the end of August or there was a good chance it would be extremely difficult to rent after that. Our new house construction was scheduled to be done in Sept. Since we were so busy we decided to go and contract a property management company. They handled everything - the showings, the applications, the background checks, collecting the rent and deposit, maintenance, etc. They will also handle eviction and collection of rent from the tenants if they stop paying rent.

There was always someone with the prospective tenants at all times. We have locks/deadbolts on all doors which we used every night anyways. We also could park down the street and watch who came in and out to see it. Some of our valuables we had packed up ahead of time but there was still stuff out that would've been highly desirable. Everything went perfectly - nothing to worry about. We had renters in by end of July and ended up moving into an apartment for a while until our house was completed.

You can work with a property manager and they can do criminal background and credit checks.

Updated

You can work with a property manager and they can do criminal background and credit checks.

Updated

You can work with a property manager and they can do criminal background and credit checks.

Updated

You can work with a property manager and they can do criminal background and credit checks.

Updated

You can work with a property manager and they can do criminal background and credit checks.

Updated

You can work with a property manager and they can do criminal background and credit checks.

Maybe instead of having a big open house, you could list it to be shown "by appointment only." That way you can get (and verify) contact information for your prospective viewers before you let them into your house.

If you need to have an open house, you could have a sign in sheet you ask them to fill out as they enter. If they're not willing to leave their information, you're not willing to show the house. Just tell them you're only showing to serious inquiries.

HTH,
T.