How to check out a landlord

[tmm99]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hamlet In my experience the real concern with a landlord is whether they will actually fix stuff when it needs to be fixed. When the sewer is backing up into the kitchen, you don't want to be dealing with someone who puts you off for a couple weeks. Personally, I would avoid renting from a do-it-yourselfer. I much preferred the larger, professionally run apartment complexes.

I will only be in this apartment for a few days a month but yeah, you don't want to have a backed up toilet for even a day.

[tmm99]

Quote:

Originally Posted by rodi Not sure about Buffalo - but here in SoCal you can look up ownership, liens, and forclosure notices. I would do a public records search to verify that you are dealing with the owner and that the property is not in foreclosure. I'd also google the name to see if anything pops. Also - if you're worried they're lawsuit happy - again, you can look up civil cases here - if you see the name come up a lot - you should consider that. But I don't think most smalltime landlords are on angies list or yelp.

I will google search it first and see. Thank you!

[daylatedollarshort]

Quote:

Originally Posted by tmm99 Do you use USA search or something to find this information?

I signed up for a free, trial account at this site:

PropertyShark - Real Estate Search and Property Information

[tmm99]

Quote:

Originally Posted by daylatedollarshort I signed up for a free, trial account at this site: PropertyShark - Real Estate Search and Property Information

Thank you very much. Did you find everything you were looking for here? I couldn't find some of the properties..

[daylatedollarshort]

Quote:

Originally Posted by tmm99 Thank you very much. Did you find everything you were looking for here? I couldn't find some of the properties..

I just looked up the one he actually rented to make sure the name the property manager told him to make the deposit check out to was actually the owner of the building, and that the property manager (or at least someone with the same name, age and gender) really lived where he said he lived in a nearby apartment in the same building. And yes, the building was listed in the Property Shark site.

I just didn't want to lose the deposit to some Craigslist scammers, trying to rent an apartment they did not own or manage. I don't remember all the details but my son said the CL scammers would advertise really nice apartments for unbelievably low rates. I guess they were looking for people like this:

How I Fell for an Awful Craigslist Rental Scam and What I Should Have Done Differently

"When I tried following up with Kim and the "landlord" to discuss the apartment, I realized both of their phones were turned off. They were unreachable. So I started doing some research -- something I should have done from the beginning. I learned there was no Michael Bryant. And Kim was not renting the apartment. The actual landlord did not grant anyone permission to put an ad on Craigslist and was not renting any of the apartments."

[tmm99]

Wow...daylatedollarshort, thank you very much for your comprehensive post. I should really be very, very careful. This story is unbelievable. I have rented the same way this journalist did in the past, but I guess the time has changed...

It seems this particular site is not pulling up some names so I may need to find another site, but this is a good start.

BTW, I see a lot of "flagged for removal" on Buffalo, NY rentals, especially at certain times of the day. It makes one wonder..

[photoguy]

I wonder how the craigslist scammers got access to the apartment. I have heard short-term airbnb rentals are sometimes used (i.e. scammers rent it for the weekend and show it to prospective tenants).