Is this landlord a red flag?

[AMandM]

My college daughter and some friends are looking to rent a house together next academic year. DD saw an ad for a house that did not mention the rent and contacted the landlord. Instead of telling her the rent, he asked what their budget was and said he's talking to another group and a family who are also interested.

To me this seems highly unprofessional. Renting is not like selling a property; you don't invite people to enter into a bidding war. Am I off base? And if I'm not, is it enough of a red flag to warrant simply not pursuing it any further?

[bacchi]

I agree with you -- that's just odd.

Your daughter should pass on this house. The landlord sounds unscrupulous.

[draco44]

Seconding that this sounds shady. It's standard in my experience to sometimes have extra fees added to the rent for things like having a pet or using a parking spot, or more rarely, landlord's offering rent discounts as a first month promo or maybe if you do some landscaping, but to have no base rent amount advertised at all to start the discussion sounds super odd. Sounds like this landlord is just asking for a discrimination lawsuit, depending on the laws of this property's location.

[Metalcat]

Evidently this happened quite a bit in some areas in my province during the pandemic, people bidding for rent.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.cbc.ca/amp/1.6094412

[draco44]

Evidently this happened quite a bit in some areas in my province during the pandemic, people bidding for rent.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.cbc.ca/amp/1.6094412

Oh no... I don't care for that one bit.

[Omy]

Sounds shady. I would probably pass because the landlord is likely going to be a PITA going forward as well.

If she's confident that she's talking to the landlord (and not a scammer) and is really interested, I'd say something like: "market rate is $xxxx, is that acceptable"?

[clarkfan1979]

My college daughter and some friends are looking to rent a house together next academic year. DD saw an ad for a house that did not mention the rent and contacted the landlord. Instead of telling her the rent, he asked what their budget was and said he's talking to another group and a family who are also interested.

To me this seems highly unprofessional. Renting is not like selling a property; you don't invite people to enter into a bidding war. Am I off base? And if I'm not, is it enough of a red flag to warrant simply not pursuing it any further?

Not advertising the actual asking rent would be a red flag for me. It might be legal, but I wouldn't want to rent from someone like that.

With that said, I am a landlord and I posted my asking rent too low in 2015 when I was asking $1400/month. I got multiple over bids on the rent and picked someone who met my criteria and also offered $1600/month.

I have had people with bad credit offer more than asking rent more than a few times. I have never accepted any of those offers.

[Dicey]

Run.

[Jon Bon]

OK let me guess....

Small college town?
Limited housing pool?
Off Campus with zero university input?
Limited local ordinances?

Yes its a red flag, LL is likely a dick. I've heard some pretty bad stuff from students over the years. Basically They ask me if I require XXXX

My response is usually "What the hell?" Or Its illegal to ask that! Lots of guys will put really shady things into the lease. I mean yeah its illegal but their tenants don't know that. Oh man you should just ask for the lease, and see what illegal shit is on there. Oh I've also heard that you have to fill out (and pay) an application BEFORE seeing a place. Most LLs are not assholes, stay away from those guys!

Obviously skip that place. OR ask him for tenant references! Ha watch him freak out if you do that!

[Villanelle]

Where I live, it's not uncommon for people to overbid on rentals, especially during the busy summer season.

But in that case, there's always a starting price, much like with housing sales.  I'd likely pass on this place unless I was desperate.  At best, he seems unprofessional and clueless. 

[AMandM]

Thanks all!
FWIW, Villanelle's guess (unprofessional and clueless) rings true for DD. The place was advertised on an interest-based FB group, not a RE site.
 It's not a small college town, it's a midsize city, with fairly strong tenant protection. The housing pool is somewhat limited because of the HCOL and because the neighbourhood near the university can be a bit sketchy. DD's prospective roommates' parents place a high value on [perceived] safety.

She was going to try to get him to name a rent figure. In the meantime she's looked at a couple of other possibilities. I'll update when I hear back from her.

[AMandM]

So the unprofessional landlord did eventually get back to her with a figure, but in the meantime she was selected for a position that covers her room and board for next year, so she's not looking for a rental any more.

[Mr. Green]

So the unprofessional landlord did eventually get back to her with a figure, but in the meantime she was selected for a position that covers her room and board for next year, so she's not looking for a rental any more.

That's great! A congratulations to your daughter.