Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
you can see people's eyes light up when they come in for the first time

I don’t think my eyes have ever lit up upon entering someone’s home. This is bonkers.

DP. I have neve met any of the potential renters. Too much opportunity for lawsuits. An agency handles that part.

OP sounds a bit unhinged and overly anxious. Good luck to her renters lol.

Anonymous wrote:
you can see people's eyes light up when they come in for the first time

I don’t think my eyes have ever lit up upon entering someone’s home. This is bonkers.

Anonymous wrote:OP here. I wish our realtor had explained that renters take this more practical approach focused on price. That makes a lot of sense.

Update: we have a signed lease. The tenants seem very nice and had good references and credit, etc. It took less than a week from listing it and we signed at several hundred dollars over the listing price. So I was overreacting.

We won't be leaving our furniture, so no concerns about them sitting on our chairs or whatnot, but good to know about the wear and tear so we can be ready for that. We can always fix it after

Almost a whole week? That's what is wrong with society. People have no respect for your time. /s

OP, your statement "The house is my pride and joy" explains that you are not seeking a landlord-tenant relationship, rather, you want a curator to safeguard your museum. You refuse to post a link to the property, so we can see the palace and how grossly overpriced it is.
Even the best tenants will not satisfy your standards. Either you price the rental competitively with reasonable expectations of normal wear and tear or delist it.
Consider hiring a professional house sitter that will maintain the quality of care you demand for a fee, or have hubby rent an extended day apartment near his new job while you stay home and polish the silver and clean the front hall marble with a toothbrush (sorry, that's the maid's job.)

Take almost everything you own and put it in storage at one of those storage unit places. All the clutter. All the personal stuff. I did this with our old house and it rented the same day.

Also if you're hoping to rent to foreign nationals, government workers or military folks, all they will care about is how many bedrooms, what school district it's in, how far it is from the bus stop and whether or not it has a fenced yard for their dog.

We currently live in the hampton roads area and a friend of mine listed her house for rental on militarybyowner or something like that and someone called her and rented it sight unseen based on the pics online and the features detailed above. They didn't care about the dining alcove or the nook or whatever.

You cannot be emotional about this.

You have to change your attitude and the way you are thinking about it. Look at your house from the tenant ( customer) point of view.
Price it little cheaper than your competitors.
In addition have a system of renting out your house.
1) Advertising it on Zillow's
2) Get applications from potential tenants.
3) Narrow down applicants
4) Do credit and background checks
5) Rent the house.

OP here. I wish our realtor had explained that renters take this more practical approach focused on price. That makes a lot of sense.

Update: we have a signed lease. The tenants seem very nice and had good references and credit, etc. It took less than a week from listing it and we signed at several hundred dollars over the listing price. So I was overreacting.

We won't be leaving our furniture, so no concerns about them sitting on our chairs or whatnot, but good to know about the wear and tear so we can be ready for that. We can always fix it after

Anonymous wrote:I'm a great renter, but cannot find a great landlord. There's a 1-bedroom available for $2200 in my building. That landlord made me an offer: $2500 a month for three years.
How is this a good offer? I expect 2026 also be a bad year when it comes to jobs if not worse.
Lower the price and you will get several excellent candidates.
I'm moving out of my current place because of the price. She wants $2400 and I think I can get the $2200 (also my current rent) as it has sat there for 100 days.
It's the price.

I'm a great landlord . We had a place on the market for $1900 ($100 over previous tenant) with no takers for a few weeks. We lowered it to $1800 and found a fantastic applicant. In the application she asked if there was any wiggle room in the rent for the first year because she was right out of college. Having a recent college grad ourselves, we knew her struggle. We lowered it another $100 for the first year. I'd rather have it filled with a great, trustworthy tenant vs getting a few hundred extra each month for someone who can afford it but could be a PITA tenant.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:+1 to what everyone has already said.

And I’m saying this as a landlord: you’ll need to emotionally distance yourself from the house if it is rented. Renters are mostly fine but they will not treat your place exactly as you want it treated. They’ll treat it like a rental. It will get dinged up. Things will break. You have to be okay with that.

Agree.

And you'll feel differently about your home if you return and live in it again. Vaguely violated. Like someone sat in your chair, ate your porridge, and slept in your bed.

🤣

I'm a great renter, but cannot find a great landlord. There's a 1-bedroom available for $2200 in my building. That landlord made me an offer: $2500 a month for three years.
How is this a good offer? I expect 2026 also be a bad year when it comes to jobs if not worse.
Lower the price and you will get several excellent candidates.
I'm moving out of my current place because of the price. She wants $2400 and I think I can get the $2200 (also my current rent) as it has sat there for 100 days.
It's the price.

Anonymous wrote:+1 to what everyone has already said.

And I’m saying this as a landlord: you’ll need to emotionally distance yourself from the house if it is rented. Renters are mostly fine but they will not treat your place exactly as you want it treated. They’ll treat it like a rental. It will get dinged up. Things will break. You have to be okay with that.

Agree.

And you'll feel differently about your home if you return and live in it again. Vaguely violated. Like someone sat in your chair, ate your porridge, and slept in your bed.

Anonymous wrote:OP you might have people jumping and feeling the same way as you if you had it on the market. Renting is different- they don’t need to fall in love bc it won’t be their house. Your situation probably has eliminated a ton of people who don’t want to move for just one year. That’s a hassle, and lots of renters want the flexibility of staying longer.
I will caution you that you sound like the type of LL where it always ends badly. Tenants have no respect for the home and won’t treat it like their own. You are going to be upset about what is considered normal wear and tear

100% this. I really hope you are using a property management company. Your identity is WAY too tied up in your house for you to be a reasonable landlord.

We have rented numerous properties and it's a transaction not a reflection on my self worth.

+1 to what everyone has already said.

And I’m saying this as a landlord: you’ll need to emotionally distance yourself from the house if it is rented. Renters are mostly fine but they will not treat your place exactly as you want it treated. They’ll treat it like a rental. It will get dinged up. Things will break. You have to be okay with that.

Yes. And then good luck that the renters do not trash your house or need eviction. The courts will not be on your side.