Whenever I evict someone, I go back to see what red flags I may have missed. I think that parents accompanying their kids to see a place may be a red flag. I initially perceived it as an 100% concerned parent but now see it as the parent potentially offloading an issue they no longer want to deal with. I've had 4 roomers who were accompanied by their parent; 2 worked out fine while the other 2 were evicted. This last one developed an apparent drug issue and began hallucinating about racoons in his room and folks shining laser lights on him. He also wrecked the room tearing a vanity mirror off the wall, breaking a door, got fired from his job and etc. I'm glad to be rid of him and am fortunate this is a rooming house eviction (lock out, no court). I once dealt with something similar in an apartment and it was a total nightmare.

A 32-year old GUY coming with his parents: red flag in so many ways.

A 20-year old recent college graduate GIRL coming with parents, green flag unless he's a jerk.

You're fortunate that your local courts see this as a lockout. The refusal of the police to support our rooming houses as short-term rentals mean I've had to bump the security deposit high enough to offset much of the cost of an eviction.

"You're fortunate that your local courts see this as a lockout. The refusal of the police to support our rooming houses as short-term rentals"

There's a specific provision in my state's laws that allow this but you must have a licensed rooming house. Unless you buy an existing place like I did, getting the license almost always requires a zoning hearing to change the use to get it approved. NIMBY with neighbors is generally the show stopper along with a slew of other code related stuff (fire alarm panels, exit signage, fire escapes and etc).

Not sure that I agree completely that having a parent along is always bad.

My daughter is 30. If she had to get a rental that wasn't mine I would want her to take me along to see what the place was like. I would not be participating in the discussions with the LL. I would just be looking for potential problems.

I would also look over the lease when we were away from the rental.

Data point. Guy came from living with his ex. His mom was the primary coordinator (via text) for finding him a room. I didn't expect him to spring for a room-- he didn't even get as far as the laundry room when I had him do his walkthrough ahead of time to make sure he was comfortable with the house, the amenities, etc. Just a glance around and a "yeah" and filled out the application.

We signed papers 4:00 Sunday. He met one of the other guys-- someone in his peer group, so no great cultural or linguistic divide. I don't know if he met the other guy, who works at his same workplace, also in the same age range, who had moved in the previous day.

His working hours are 5 am to 5 pm. Even though Mom's paying the rent, the room rent is about 15% of his weekly take-home pay. Even better, his workplace offers a six-month relocation allowance, which is essentially half-off a month's room fee. So regardless, he can settle in, save aggressively, and be in a better position to be where he wants in a few months. I figure he'll be good until he finds a new girlfriend to move in with.

A little before 8 am Monday, I get a text from his mom asking about sfh's that I might have. I have a 3/2 that rents for 1 1/3 weeks' salary. Nope, that's way too much for his pockets. Then I tell her about a 1-bedroom I have coming open in a couple of weeks, which rents for about 3/4ths of one week's salary. Mentally, I'm shifting with him staying "until he gets a new girlfriend" to "long enough to pivot into this one-bedroom house".

Nope. He texts me 8 minutes after his shift ends telling me that he's moved out. Which means, essentially, that he moved out at 5 am... he barely lasted 12 hours.