I just had an applicant ask if I’d drop the rent $200 a month if he would do the yard work.
You bet buddy. I’ve seen how tenants take care of a yard.
Tatertot,
A better answer might be, “Yes, just show me your Master Gardener credentials.”
What if he really WERE a Master Gardener…okay I am dreaming.
Furnishedowner
Even if he is a master gardener, tenants who rent a house are expected to take care of the yard. They don’t get an expensive reward for doing so and meeting their obligation.
I automatically reject tenants who are looking at properties that they can’t possibly afford and then trying to talk the rent down to their price range. They are not good budgeters; they try to get what they “deserve” not what they can afford. They are people who work the system. It’s very likely that they would be demanding and unreasonable tenants.
I’ve occasionally (very rarely) had expert gardeners as tenants and they look at a house and at a yard in a different way than your run of the mill tenant, so it is easy to pick them out. I have never ever had one yet tell me how much they love gardening and they never brag about how they will take good care of the yard.
It’s a proven fact that the more an applicant assures you that they love to plant flowers, the worse your yard will look with them in the house. It’s exactly like you should grab onto your wallet with both hands when someone insists upon impressing you with how honest they are or how “Christian” they are. Truly honest people just go about their business, they don’t brag about it.
uhh… Next!
I once let a tenant talk me down on the rent, mostly because a house on the same street was going for about $100 less.
That turned out to be a mistake, after 3 months, rent started coming late, then partial, then eviction… never again.