Renting to Diplomats?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don’t think it’s that easy to apply for a green card after being here, even years, on a diplomatic visa.

Really? Much easier than if you worked and paid taxes. It’s pretty egregious

That's not true. I knew someone who applied and it took about 7 years, even though his wife and 2 kids were natural born US citizens and he had lived in the USA for 30 years..

[Anonymous]

I'm the one who lives next door to the house that's always rented to World Bank people.

I don't know if this would be kosher to do, but I would let any potential tenant know that, if they employ a household employee, then they must pay them a minimum wage and give them certain rights.

In my experience, a lot of the World Bank personnel from other countries have lived all over the world, and in a lot of developing countries, you can hire multiple servants for a very low price. So the World Bank personnel are accustomed to living a high standard of life, with cooking, cleaning, childcare, and shopping all done for them, even though their salaries are not super high.

So when they come to the US, they mistakenly assume that they can hire a lot of household help at a very cheap price.

[Anonymous]

If you or your spouse have or my get a security clearance in the future, you will have to report this relationship and depending on where the diplomats are from, could create an issue.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you or your spouse have or my get a security clearance in the future, you will have to report this relationship and depending on where the diplomats are from, could create an issue.

Baloney. Absolute baloney. Please don't post misinformation like this. You do everyone gullible enough to believe your misinformation a grave disservice. Renting to a diplomat, either directly or through an embassy, will not in any way negatively impact a security clearance.

[Anonymous]

Don't rent to diplomats from poor countries. These countries are often struggle to make payroll.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How do you rent directly to the embassy? Do you email a particular embassy (e.g., the German embassy) and ask them to advertise your house on their internal list-serv?

Is this post still active? I would love to have some info on this.

[Anonymous]

Having rented to diplomats for many years, I will concur that they are generally ideal tenants. (Mine have all been military people from various countries for some reason, so maybe they were just unusually disciplined.) I had a foreign tenant all through the COVID-19 situation, and not once did I ever fear having a missed rent payment.

The issue about not having legal recourse in the same manner if there are damages to the property is valid, but I dealt with it in two ways:

1). I required a larger security deposit (two months’ rent instead of the usual one month)

2). Since you cannot do a background check in the same manner as you would for a local resident, someone high up in the embassy usually sends a letter vouching for their income, housing allowance, etc. I figured that if push came to shove, I could always threaten to send notification and pictures of the damages to their employer. I would not expect the employer to pay, but I figure that most people don’t want that kind of black mark with their employer, so they would end up just paying to avoid that conflict.

One other unrelated benefit of renting to diplomats is that you can then rent the unit as a furnished space, which increases the rent by about 20%. Most people don’t want to buy furniture – specifically nice furniture – for a 2- to 3-year assignment.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm the one who lives next door to the house that's always rented to World Bank people.

I don't know if this would be kosher to do, but I would let any potential tenant know that, if they employ a household employee, then they must pay them a minimum wage and give them certain rights.

In my experience, a lot of the World Bank personnel from other countries have lived all over the world, and in a lot of developing countries, you can hire multiple servants for a very low price. So the World Bank personnel are accustomed to living a high standard of life, with cooking, cleaning, childcare, and shopping all done for them, even though their salaries are not super high.

So when they come to the US, they mistakenly assume that they can hire a lot of household help at a very cheap price.

Bullshit!

[Anonymous]

A colleague (diplomat) is currently looking for an apartment if any folks here have one available. Thank you!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:YOu may not be able to run a creidt check as they may not have SSNs. Rent to the embassy.

Not all Embassies are low risk.

[gtemb]

Bear in mind that the fact that even if you’ll be running a credit check which comes back positive won’t necessarily ensure the viability of current/future finances or ensure the security or sustainability of employment for that matter. I’d look at other things like employment letters and other guarantees ie a special clause in the contract.
—————
Posting for a colleague (diplomat) who’s interested in renting an apartment. Thank you!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm the one who lives next door to the house that's always rented to World Bank people.

I don't know if this would be kosher to do, but I would let any potential tenant know that, if they employ a household employee, then they must pay them a minimum wage and give them certain rights.

In my experience, a lot of the World Bank personnel from other countries have lived all over the world, and in a lot of developing countries, you can hire multiple servants for a very low price. So the World Bank personnel are accustomed to living a high standard of life, with cooking, cleaning, childcare, and shopping all done for them, even though their salaries are not super high.

So when they come to the US, they mistakenly assume that they can hire a lot of household help at a very cheap price.

Bullshit!

OK, what do you disagree with? I wrote that post in 2019 (as I recognize what I said, because it's true). I have seen this personally many times. I hope it's no longer the case, but in my personal experience, many people who have lived elsewhere in the world (outside of Europe) are accustomed to employing household help at very low wages, and therefore are surprised that you must pay a higher wage in the US to household help. So either they go without household help in the US (and complain about it), or employ household help but underpay them.

[Anonymous]

I rented my garage out to a Dodge Diplomat.

[Anonymous]

I have been renting my townhouse in TYsons to diplomats (and military people working at Embassies) for 5 years. So far all good. Like the one mentioned previously, rents always get paid.