Hi guys,

Normally I try to avoid renting to people in their twenties as we all know that more mature tenants = less headache for us. However with current bad economy and third floor apartment (lots of stairs which deter mature prospects), I'm getting more young applicants. If they pass the credit/background check, income verification, and cooperativeness, how do I know that they won't be loud at night or hosting parties? Asking current landlords doesn't work because current landlords would lie and only talk good about them just to get them out of their places. Also lots of time, these twenty something are moving out of their parents' houses for the first time.

Please share your tips. Thanks.

Are they college grads?

I tell tenants that we have three rules, besides the 15 page lease, and one is be a good neighbor. This means No Partying in the building - plenty of bars in the area and we have UBER at the beach.

NE, in blue states you most likely can't take a double deposit.

I have a place coming open this Wednesday that has two young kids in it. They have been with us one year and four months.

They were my unicorns. Never paid late, never caused trouble, place is in great shape, she is cleaning the rest this week. Cat came on board and unless you see his toys you never know he is there. They bought a house, darn it.

Leaving in a few minutes to get a SD for the same place from another set of young ones.

Have had good luck with the younger crowd of late.

Not always that way. I used to rent to students from a local religious based college. I stopped because I only had one set that was good. They had gotten married. All the others were out to party and cause mayhem.

Firm rules, MTM leases and explanations of consequences.

Turnover costs (repair, repaint, time to find a good applicant) are the greatest cost to a landlord. You want to minimize turnover.

And, young tenants think a year is a long time = quicker turnover.

So, I'd rather not rent to someone under 25.

Many good answers above. I too steer clear of young ones, but my last two are my youngest (two different places) have been unicorns, have renewed for another year, and I just got a referral from one who has a sister that has been a nurse for 1 1/2 years.

You didn't paint a clear picture. Are these college grads? Or do you have a c grade rental and warehouse workers? Roommates or a young couple? Rental history, work history or not? Often when I look them up they have been on the honor roll or find other school achievements. Since NY no longer allows a double deposit I ask for a guarantor. I find young couples trainable, and stay

I explain to younger applicants that I will not stand for entitled tenants that think just because they pay rent, they can do as they please. Loud music, staying up late disturbing others.

One 27 year old explained he lived with his parents, in their guest house, before moving to L.A. So I said, if you want to make noise, play music with your windows open, I can rent you the rear lower unit. It's located across from the parking area.

Some tenants leave for work at 4am and some return a 2am. So your loud after hours music will be tolerated -- and you will never get to sleep a solid 5 hours without being woken up by tenants traveling to and from the parking area in the rear of the building. And the laundry room is also located over the garages.

Thank you everyone for your reply

6x6[TN], 5% of my prospects are college grads. I don't like renting to them. They're loud and move every year. Why do you like them?

plenty[MO], yep plan to do that but it would be nice if I could see the "clues" before renting to them.

NE[PA], yes I'll check their FB. No deposit due to a very stupid law specifically designed to punish any Chicago LL who take deposits. I like your month-to-month lease

WMH[NC], will tell them that.

mapleaf18[NY], exactly. In fact, most LL in Chicago don't take deposit at all. Too lawyers hunt for LL who take deposit and make good money out of them. Love your grades idea!

Landlord of the flies[TX], thanks for the reword the issue tip.

zero[IN], yep sadly the good ones don't stay with us for long.

Tim[CA], how do bank statements tell us whether they would be a respectable neighbor?

TenantWhisperer[MA], exactly! Glad someone got my point. Young people move too often; mostly yearly. Turn over is the most expensive for us in LL business.

Ray-N-Pa[PA], true but I'd rather have other LL train them for a decade first before I take them :-)

Oreo[WI], Talk to their parents? Interesting. What questions would you ask? Even if the prospects are part animals, I'm sure that the parents never allowed that to happen in their houses. Hence they might even know that.

Small potatoes[NY], sorry, C grade rental. Young adults mean anyone under 30 yo. I don't rent to roommates. They always split. Love your Guarantor idea!

Jim[CA], I'd rather have old tenants testing me but never move than obedient young tenants who move every year.

CHICAGO:

I usually open with: Tell me about your daughter or son who has applied to rent from us.

My application has a question, "who would help pay rent if you were unable to."

I ask the parents if they would help pay rent if their kid was unable to...whether the young person listed them or not. A kid listed his parents would help. The parent said they would not help.

I asked a parent how clean their son was. The mom said "he's a guy." As an engineer, I found he is extremely organized and purchased everything to make his life go smoothly. He uses his Roomba every day to keep the place clean. I provided a dishwasher so there's never dishes laying around.

I asked one parent if their kid smoked in the house. He said no and she's the first smoker I took. She did not smoke in the house and stayed 3 years.

We rent to quite a few college students. Overall, have had way fewer problems with them than we do with "blue collar" workers.