With the recent condo craze/crash in Florida there are a lot of, what a friend of mine calls, accidental landlords. They bought hoping to flip quickly and now are stuck trying to rent them out.

For the renter, they represent a large source of quality housing, usually at a much lower rent. They can’t afford to sit on a vacant unit so they have to do whatever it takes to get them rented.

But even more importantly, they also tend to be more lenient on the qualifications to rent.

Large apartment communities are usually bound by rigid standards that they have to apply across the board. If you have a credit glitch or infraction with the law from errors made years ago you may find it hard to qualify with the big boys.

A private owner may be a great option to use while trying to repair that credit to be able to rent elsewhere or even buy later on.

On the flip side, they don’t always have the expertise or resources to deal with problems that may come up with the apartment (i.e. repairs). Be sure you discuss who will be responsible if something goes wrong in the property and make sure it is spelled out in the lease.

It is also risky for the renter because they could be required to the pay Condo association and HOA fees for which their landlord is delinquent.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, January 30th, 2008 at 6:33 PM and is filed under Dollars & Sense - Saving Money, Finding an Apartment. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.