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Fee for Co-signing on Student Rental?

1,473 Views | 12 Replies | Last: 1 yr ago by dubi
ags4rocks
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Is this normal practice to charge a tenant and co-signor an application fee? My daughter is looking to move houses here at A&M and they want her to pay an application fee and she has to have a co-signor for lease, and I went to fill out the form and they are charging me a 40$/fee too. So roughly 5 students @40$ and 5 Parents having to Co-sign for $40/piece... so they make $400 just for paper work...... I have no problem with this if this is normal procedure, but the other places she and my son live have never charged for me to co-sign. I get so frustrated with the way property management companies on how they take advantage in every way possible.
aggiepaintrain
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AG
Normal and ridiculous how some of these landlords and leasing companies treat our kids.


wait until they tell you that there's a waiting list AFTER you pay $40/$80
FJB
CS78
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Typically those fees cover background check fees charged by a 3rd party company that the management company uses.
Red Pear Luke (BCS)
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CS78 said:

Typically those fees cover background check fees charged by a 3rd party company that the management company uses.
This.

Usually all that happens is management/leasing company just dumps the name into the 3rd Party Background checking group (aka Rentspree) and pays the fee for them to spit out the data.

It's literally as easy as me going to the MLS to upload the property for rent info and if I want to use Rent Spree for processing the application.
Red Pear Realty
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There are good landlords and bad landlords out there.

I use a third party background check company that is owned by one of the three credit agencies. The fee is $41.99 and is paid directly by the applicant (and their guarantor if needed) to the company and I don't make a single dollar from this process. I have to do this to make sure that the $300,000+ house I'm handing over to a group of young adults is going to be safe, and that the tenants are going to be safe with each other in the house. I've had to deny people for reasons I don't want to say on here. Think the other roommates or their parents knew their child was looking to live with a convicted felon? Think the landlord won't get sued if one tenant gets hurt or killed by another?

On the other hand, I got my license in College Station doing house hunting. Some unscrupulous landlords absolutely make it a business practice to demand large application fees with the intent of making money, not doing background checks. I hated that then and I hate it for folks now. This is another reason to have good representation. Local professionals should be able to help you sort through the riff raff and keep you from getting ripped off. Bad folks are out there, even in Aggieland.
Sponsor Message: We Split Commissions. Full Service Agents in Austin, Bryan-College Station, Dallas-Fort Worth, Houston and San Antonio. Red Pear Realty
ags4rocks
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Seems like a racket, and this is supposedly a reputable property manager.. I understand about doing a back ground check, but if I am the guarantor who cares if someone is a felon or not they are still on the hook for the "tenant" I just don't understand why we have to pay twice.. but I guess it is the way of the land, I would love to someday create a system to call out these companies that feed on taking advantage of college students…

for example….

Like the the time my daughter went to to the dealer to get an oil change and they gave her an estimate for every fluid change and look over and estimate was $1200, she called and said that doesn't sound right, I told her all she needs is the $80 oil change that is advertised all over the place!!!

I could go on and on… I live here so I see it all the time!
Diggity
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I'm not sure why you would be shocked about a background check for a co-signer. They're not just for criminal histories.
RGRAg1/75
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Diggity said:

I'm not sure why you would be shocked about a background check for a co-signer. They're not just for criminal histories.

Exactly. And you know what, there are plenty of "good Aggie student" parents out there who let their "good Aggie students" trash rentals. Back ground checks of the co-signer is just risk mitigation.
MookieBlaylock
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AG
ags4rocks said:

Seems like a racket, and this is supposedly a reputable property manager.. I understand about doing a back ground check, but if I am the guarantor who cares if someone is a felon or not they are still on the hook for the "tenant" I just don't understand why we have to pay twice.. but I guess it is the way of the land, I would love to someday create a system to call out these companies that feed on taking advantage of college students…

for example….

Like the the time my daughter went to to the dealer to get an oil change and they gave her an estimate for every fluid change and look over and estimate was $1200, she called and said that doesn't sound right, I told her all she needs is the $80 oil change that is advertised all over the place!!!

I could go on and on… I live here so I see it all the time!


Was that the christian place on Harvey?

They been doing that scam for 30 years
bloom
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Just a heads up, if the home is in College Station they have an ordinance that no more than 4 unrelated persons can live together. It was not enforced for years, but this past year they have actually sent letters and enforced. The one "off lease" tenant can be forced to move.

That fee is almost certainly the landlord passing along the cost of the background check. Hope the housing search goes well! Google for reviews/stories of the property management company. There are some that you seriously should avoid…and some good ones
aggiepaintrain
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AG
Some neighborhoods like Dove Crossing now limits it to no more than (2)!!

Finding a decent place is a total beatdown!
FJB
Red Pear Realty
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With inventory at 1.2 months and the city trying to enforce their dumb occupancy rules, rents are going up in the near future. During and right after school, my friends at texas used to laugh at how cheap housing was at A&M versus texas when we would talk about it. My last year of grad school I think I paid like $400 a month for a bedroom in a four bed house within walking distance of campus. My friends at texas were paying several multiples of that. I didn't think CS rents would "mature" this quickly, but here we are.
Sponsor Message: We Split Commissions. Full Service Agents in Austin, Bryan-College Station, Dallas-Fort Worth, Houston and San Antonio. Red Pear Realty
dubi
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Quote:

Like the the time my daughter went to to the dealer to get an oil change and they gave her an estimate for every fluid change and look over and estimate was $1200, she called and said that doesn't sound right, I told her all she needs is the $80 oil change that is advertised all over the place!!!

Quote:

Was that the christian place on Harvey?


I know Allen Honda did this to one of my tenants 3 years ago.
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