Finding a place to live quick with three kids isn’t easy. Just ask Tim and Mary Dwyer. They moved to Chicago recently because of a new job and didn’t feel like they had the time to search for a new home to buy. But they didn’t want to rent an apartment either because there wouldn’t be enough privacy or room for their family.
Their solution: They rented a three-bedroom house. Mary Dwyer says they spent about five minutes breezing through the Hinsdale home before agreeing to rent it. The landlord couldn’t believe we decided that quickly, she recalls.
Renting a house has many of the same advantages as renting an apartment, though tenants typically take on more responsibility with the increased space. The Dwyers, for instance, have the advantage of a short-term lease, giving them a chance to get to know the area before committing to a home purchase. But they also have to mow their own lawn and shovel the snow on their driveway.
Real estate experts say the key to renting a house is to spell out, in writing, issues concerning maintenance, including washing the windows, cleaning the gutters, calling the plumber and hanging the storm windows. All that varies from landlord to landlord.
The advantage is, you have all that space. You have an upstairs, a basement, a yard, says John D’Ambrogio, spokesman for Apartment People rental agency in Chicago. But sometimes when you rent a house you are taking over the whole nine yards.
In the Dwyers’ case, the home they rent had a stove and a refrigerator but not a washer and dryer, so they used their own from their former home in Charlotte, N.C. For minor repairs, the Dwyers’ landlord, who lives in Florida, relies on a friend. For major repairs, though, the Dwyers are expected to contact their landlord, who would then call in an expert.
The Dwyers’ landlord is typical. While many apartment buildings are overseen by professional property managers who take care of maintenance and repair, most home rentals are handled by an individual owner, many of whom live out of state. Almost always you are dealing with an individual owner rather than a large property management company, says Peter Lazzari, president of Visual Properties in Chicago. And each owner has unique requirements.
Spell things out
Some landlords are renting out their house to make money until it sells, while others are simply out of town for an extended period because of a job transfer.
Griff Danheim moved his family to Houston for a job and has been unable to sell his four-bedroom Grayslake home. He decided to rent it to help pay the mortgage bill. So far, his tenants mail their rent to him every month and keep up with yard maintenance and the property overall. They are responsible for basically everything, he says. If a light fixture breaks, they are responsible for it. If there is a repair that the tenant can’t handle, Danheim provides the number of a local repairman.
Landlords who live in town are more likely to participate in the house’s upkeep, such as lawn care, and to make arrangements for plumbing and electrical repairs. It really depends. Sometimes the landlord may own more than one property, and he may take care of it, D’Ambrogio says. Also, many property owners want the assurance the house will stay in good shape, says John McGannon, president of HomeBase, an Oakbrook Terrace-based house rental firm. Some don’t want to leave it to the tenant because it might start to look rundown, McGannon says.
Some tenants run into problems when an out-of-town owner appoints a friend or family member to collect rent and to handle repair calls, says Yehuda Cohen, president of Century 21 Amquest in Chicago. As an example, Cohen says, what would happen in midwinter if the furnace broke down and the temperature in the house started to plummet? Would that friend have the authority to replace the furnace? “You need an active agent to look at the situation with your eye, not the way they would handle it. The way you would,” he says.
One of the biggest gray areas for house renters is lawn care, Cohen says. It may seem like an innocuous chore but not to an owner who has spent thousands on landscaping. If a tenant has never done yard work or is uninterested, an owner may return after a year to find his yard full of weeds and burn patches from a botched fertilizing job. A better solution is to hire a lawn-care service, Cohen says. He suggests splitting the cost between owner and tenant or including the cost as part of the rent.
Snow removal, on the other hand, is typically the renter’s responsibility. Anybody can shovel snow, Cohen says. “It’s the I lived there and I did it–you live there and you do it (situation). However, if the roof leaks, call in a professional.”
The owner of the house should always be notified about repairs for big-ticket items, such as the roof, wiring or the furnace.
The inside of a rental house can also provide some gray areas for renters and owners. For instance, a tenant may be required in his lease to repair the dishwasher if it breaks. But should a tenant have to replace a dishwasher that was on its last legs? Cohen advises landlords that one good way to handle minor repairs is to empower a tenant to make repairs up to a certain limit, such as $100. Depending on the landlord, the cost of some repairs can simply be deducted from the rent or split between the landlord and tenant, D’Ambrogio says. Be sure to hammer that out in the lease, experts warn.
The search
Finding a house to rent is not as easy as finding an apartment because the market is not as large, Lazarri says. There is just not as wide of a selection of rentals as homes for sale.
Among the best places to start looking are newspaper classified ad sections and services such as HomeBase, which specializes in house rentals.
The Dwyers, for a set fee, hired a service that sent them lists of houses for rent in the western suburbs. They drove past 25 different houses and toured 10 of them before choosing the one they wanted.
Another resource for house rental information is real estate company sales offices, which can have a lot of homes to rent by clients who are waiting to sell and want to rent in the meantime, D’Ambrogio says.
Once you find a house to rent, expect to pay more for just about everything than you would pay at an apartment.
One of the first surprises for the first-time house renter is the security deposit. While apartment renters normally pay one month’s rent as a deposit, house rentals typically require deposits that equal 1 1/2 to 2 months’ rent, D’Ambrogio says. Some landlords charge a flat fee as a deposit.
The Dwyers paid the last month’s rent and an additional $500 for their security deposit.
Another added expense for house renters is utility bills. Water, for instance, is not included in the rent like it is for most apartments, D’Ambrogio notes.
And house renters typically pay their own heating bills, while about half of all apartment rentals include heating. Those heating bills are liable to be substantially higher than in an apartment, of course, because of the additional space the house offers, D’Ambrogio says.
House renters should be sure to read the fine print in the lease, he adds, noting that house renters are covered under most of the same laws that govern landlords and tenants.
