It was the day after we had signed our lease. The rush of excitement from finding our new home had settled.  The pressure of needing to find a place had lifted, and in the light of a calmer day, we immediately knew we had made a mistake.  In our quest to be done house hunting, we got hasty.  We overlooked the clues that things might not be what they seemed.  The good seemed more obvious than the bad during the walk through, but our impatience eased overlooking the hidden.

For years to come, the house would (and will) be referred to as “our little house of horrors”.  We had excuses for the rush to find somewhere: work constraints, having young children, not being familiar with the area.  It was our sixth rental, but ultimately, we had made amateur mistakes and ended up with massive rental regret.

We didn’t plan in advance.  Planning always sounds like a great idea, if only life would pause and give us time to do it.  I get it, I know, I’ve been there.  When you’re looking for a new rental, your moving out of another place, which is A LOT of work.  With that said, when you are in a rental you hate, it doesn’t make you feel any better to know you did a really great job with your last move-out.  It’s yet another balancing act, but it will be worth it.  

To be clear, I am in no way encouraging anyone to burn the bridges behind them (their last landlords).  Just don’t get so caught up with what’s behind you that you forget to watch the road ahead of you.

“Priorities?  A house….with a roof.”  We had real priorities, but we lost them, maybe out of desperation, or lack of focus.  Know your priorities, your REAL priorities, write them down, so when you are in the house and something fancy catches your eye, your don’t loose sight of what is really important to you.  

For us, it was a “renovated” kitchen.  We got excited, got distracted, and although we did have things that were important to us (which weren’t fancy cupboards).  We lost site of them.  As a general rule, don’t get so distracted by the beautiful cabinets that you forget to look if anything’s living in them.

Get the dirt, seriously.  Don’t settle for what is advertised to you at an open house or walk through.  Ever heard the saying “first impressions last forever”?  Well, so have landlords and property managers.  The first week in our new rental a stream of neighbors stopped by to tell us everything we never wanted to know about our house, our landlords, our terrible mistake.  

This was the house we were putting everything we loved in.  Why didn’t we knock on a door and say “Hi, we’re thinking about renting the house next door and were hoping you could share a little about the house/landlords/area…. anything??”  Understandably, not everyone is comfortable putting themselves out there in such a way.  But that’s where RentalDiaries comes in.  Who better to tell you how comfortable a pair of shoes is than someone who has worn them? Nothing replaces having the opportunity to hear from previous tenants before you sign the lease.

You and your future rental are going to be spending a lot of time together.  Don’t force something that wasn’t meant to be or end up with rental regret.  Know your budget, know your expectations, and stay focused on whether a rental property meets them.