Utopia 2010

Is this landlord for REAL? He sure is but the REAL question in my mind that night was ” for how long” ?

Our Anonymous Landlord shall be known as Christian, the property address is the Skymark Centre and the 2 prospective tenants are Rajeev and Praseen.

Christian has been a landlord for approx 2 years, and he used to live in the unit that’s currently for rent. Rajeev and Praseen are professional IT consultants who have recently transfered to the Canadian offices of 1 of the top 4 consulting firms in North America. They are in search of a suitable rental in the Uptown Toronto area, they work in the area and have come to appreciate all that the location has to offer.

We’ve seen the unit, it shows great, view is fabulous, what came next? the question on everyone’s mind – What are the next steps to apply for the unit?

Christian replied.. let me know ASAP, provide the first and last month’s rent and that’s it. Yup you heard right.

• No credit report
• No personal reference checks
• No validation of employment details
• No rental application

Based on his own principles he :

- Considers requesting a credit report invasive

- Considers the value of personal references, not effective because of course these are friends or acquaintances who often would not disclose anything negative

How does he screen and select his ” right tenant” ? In his own words; which has not been paraphrased he says “In my experience if you treat people well they will treat you well in turn, if you start a relationship under the pretences that they have something to hide they will find something to hide from you”. Ultimately, Christian believes he’s a good judge of character, and therefore trusts his instints.

In case you wondered what Rajeev and Praseen thought of Christian’s principles, their comments were

- he’s such a nice landlord

- Yes, we agree requesting a credit report is invasive

- this is exactly the way our landlords in the US dealt with us.

In an utopian world, where all is perfect the above can and should be status quo, but in 2010 with all that you and I know, would you take such a risk as a landlord? or better still should you take such a risk? afterall you’ll be the one left with a mortgage to pay not the tenant !

Experience had taught me to manage people and properties with head and heart and honestly i don’t know any other way to do it, so yes i will always see the good in people, be aware of my gut instincts but still use my head to figure out those things my heart cannot discern.

Even in Utopia 2010, there’s a fun side, so i asked christian if he were showing a rental and had a choice of a song to play in the background; what would it be ? his response Bachman Turner-Overdrive : Taking care of Business

Just as i am

Your zerovacancygal