Would you rent your house to a famous athlete?

[pivoprussia]

We have our house listed for sale. We would prefer to sell but if it does not sell we are open to the possibility of renting.

Our agent just informed us a famous athlete is interested in renting our house.

My concern is the individual is young and single. More than likely would have parties at the house.
A family could also cause damage but clearly the concern is greater here.

Would you rent it to them?
If so, what provisions would you include in the contract to safeguard your property?

Thanks.

[Dave55]

I would not rent a house to anyone, famous or not. Who wants the headaches that go with being a landlord.

Dave

[Ramjet]

Yes, I would

[TomatoTomahto]

I would not rent a house to anyone, famous or not. Who wants the headaches that go with being a landlord.

Dave

I once rented to a (not famous, not athlete) young person. After they finally left, I vowed to burn the place to the ground before I’d ever rent again.

[mak1277]

with the proper protections in the lease, absolutely.

[clip651]

I'm sure my house would be of no interest to anyone famous. But if I were trying to sell a house, I'd stick with trying to sell it and not take the risk of headaches of becoming a landlord. Tell your agent to tell the famous athlete to put in an offer to buy the house if they are interested. They can resell it when they are done with it if they want.

[pivoprussia]

This would be a relatively short term lease.

So what specific provisions should I include IF i did it?

[stoptothink]

We have our house listed for sale. We would prefer to sell but if it does not sell we are open to the possibility of renting.

Our agent just informed us a famous athlete is interested in renting our house.

My concern is the individual is young and single. More than likely would have parties at the house.
A family could also cause damage but clearly the concern is greater here.

Would you rent it to them?
If so, what provisions would you include in the contract to safeguard your property?

Thanks.

If this young, single, and wealthy individual wasn't an athlete, would they miraculously be less likely to have parties at the house?

[anon_investor]

I would not rent a house to anyone, famous or not. Who wants the headaches that go with being a landlord.

Dave

+1. My parents have a rental property and I have had to help them deal with tenants before. NOT fun. Unless you really want to be a landlord I would just concentrait on selling the house.

[livesoft]

Sure I would. I've already trashed the place, so maybe they would make it better.

[oldfort]

You’re asking the wrong question. Do you want to be a landlord?

[straws46]

If this is really what you decide to do, standard form leases are aways written in favor of the landlord because they are the only people who buy them. Get a standard form rental agreement for your state from a business supply store. Make sure you read it and understand each provision, and get a huge security deposit.

[as9]

With the proper protections in place, certainly. My hunch is a famous athlete may not balk at a significant security deposit.

[mouses]

I would never again rent to anyone.

[Nicolas]

I once rented to a (not famous, not athlete) young person. After they finally left, I vowed to burn the place to the ground before I’d ever rent again.

Youth is wasted on the young.

[Mr. Rumples]

I'd be sure to be in compliance with laws which prohibit discrimination based on marital status and age. Your real estate agent should know the law and if not, your local housing authority would.

[Marmot]

I bought a house from a famous athlete. Young, it was known in the neighborhood as a party house. Neighbors told stories of police helicopters circling it. Na, your athlete can't be that bad.

[adamthesmythe]

Oddly enough I had a similar request.

My house was listed for sale and they were filming a movie in town. (With Sharon Stone, actually). Agent wanted to know if I would rent it short term. Not to Sharon Stone, one of the minions on the movie.

Thought about it and said no. Seemed like possible trouble for money I didn't really need.

[Dave55]

The other question you have to ask yourself is: "What can go wrong by renting?"
The correct answer is: "Everything". Even with an ironclad written contract.

Dave

[Trader Joe]

We have our house listed for sale. We would prefer to sell but if it does not sell we are open to the possibility of renting.

Our agent just informed us a famous athlete is interested in renting our house.

My concern is the individual is young and single. More than likely would have parties at the house.
A family could also cause damage but clearly the concern is greater here.

Would you rent it to them?
If so, what provisions would you include in the contract to safeguard your property?

Thanks.

No I would not.

[1130Super]

When he signs the paperwork slip in some memorabilia to sign.

[Carefreeap]

Like anyone you need to make sure you check out their credit and criminal status. I'd also be checking out the landlord BEFORE the current one.

Big deposit and take the time to meet them to get a feel for how they treat you (and your stuff).

Put your expectations in writing; how many cars, noise et cetera.

While there may be some marketing benefit to having a celebrity live in your house don't be blinded by fame. DH has a famous relative (long dead before DH came on the scene and not a biological relative) and I'm always amazed at what people expect with that association.

Good luck with your decision.

[tealeaves]

Close friends rented to an NBA player for two years (he liked the high ceilings)! Had the pleasure of meeting him - could not have been a nicer guy or a better tenant (he was also on the road a lot of course). Paid a large security deposit (money was not an issue) and there was no need to withhold any of it for damage. Moved when he got traded and paid an early term fee without question. Should be judged/screened on a case by case basis just like any other prospective tenant. Good luck,

[sport]

Perhaps you can resolve the problem by making the rent high enough to cover your inconvenience and any possible problems. Depending on the value of the house, maybe $50,000 per month or $100,000 per month, paid in advance, along with a large security deposit, would make it worthwhile. If the athlete does not want to spend that much, the problem disappears. OTOH, some of those pro athletes make so much money that the convenience may be worth that price to them and then you are well compensated for your trouble.

[Watty]

One issue that has not been mentioned is that few sports teams will be playing anytime soon because of the pandemic

I have not been following it but I vaguely heard something about the players income being impacted so there may be more risk than you might assume that he or she will have a problem with actually paying the rent.

I would also look into the risk that the team they play for could go belly up. At least with other businesses it is not uncommon for a company that is in trouble to intentionally do a strategic bankruptcy so that they can renegotiate their contracts.

One huge risk is that you could rent it for a year then end up trying to sell it next year in a terrible housing market. My impression is that most housing markets are still doing OK now so if you do not want to keep the house for the long term now would be a good time to sell it. Selling a high end house in a bad recession or a depression would likely be very hard.

For a high end house there may be a very limited rental market. Who could you rent it to next? The lack of rentals in that price range is likely why they are trying to rent your house.

[cchrissyy]

If you are offering it for rent, and they are qualified, then yes i would rent to them.
First thing is you need to be careful and understand the law. In my state you can't discriminate by family status or source of income.

On a more important note, it sounds like you are not prepared to be a landlord, which means you have not offered it for rent, you are not at all set up for this, and their inquiry is probably not very serious. You should proceed with your plans to sell.

[bogledogle]

We have our house listed for sale. We would prefer to sell but if it does not sell we are open to the possibility of renting.

Our agent just informed us a famous athlete is interested in renting our house.

My concern is the individual is young and single. More than likely would have parties at the house.
A family could also cause damage but clearly the concern is greater here.

Would you rent it to them?
If so, what provisions would you include in the contract to safeguard your property?

Thanks.

You mean he is going to have parties at HIS house that he rents from you? You are profiling the guy based on what he does for a living, how old he is? Whats next?

[Northern Flicker]

We have our house listed for sale. We would prefer to sell but if it does not sell we are open to the possibility of renting.

Our agent just informed us a famous athlete is interested in renting our house.

My concern is the individual is young and single. More than likely would have parties at the house.
A family could also cause damage but clearly the concern is greater here.

Would you rent it to them?
If so, what provisions would you include in the contract to safeguard your property?

Thanks.

If you are going to be a landlord, you should familiarize yourself with fair housing rules. Marital status and age are protected classes with respect to housing discrimination.

[sls239]

No, but I'd certainly ask the realtor if marketing the house as a potential investment property (for someone else) would be warranted.

Then the interested athlete would become a selling feature.

[finite_difference]

I once rented to a (not famous, not athlete) young person. After they finally left, I vowed to burn the place to the ground before I’d ever rent again.

Youth is wasted on the young.

I would argue that youth is wasted on young adults. Kids genuinely know how to have fun.

[Raymond]

Sell as planned, unless you now want to be a landlord.

[illumination]

Unless they were paying well above market rate with a big security deposit, I would probably pass. If they were married and/or older, I would think differently.

Obviously there is a wide range of how people behave, and it's stereotyping, but my fear would be a rowdy "entourage" type of environment at the house. Also who is going to be occupying it while the person is on the road. I would also be concerned with liability if something happened there. You better believe if someone gets hurt at a famous athlete's house, lawsuits will happen and you may get caught in the crossfire.

What's funny is there is an exclusive country club in my area, and a world famous athlete was turned down for membership because they didn't want the drama brought into their club. It was quite the snub for this guy and was a hometown hero, but the members just didn't want the headaches.

[Helo80]

Come to think of it, when I was in HS, a famous athlete that played professionally (in one of the big three MLB/NBA/NFL) did live in the neighborhood while his new home was being built. There were no real issues with him, other than he was international and from a country that did not respect women terribly much so he had issues with the gate guards. He also tended to speed through the neighborhood in the Mercedes and Porsches from what I heard.... But no house parties.

But I think he was married, and no, I would not want to rent to a single athlete. On one-hand, he would likely have the assets to cover any and all repairs, on the other, he has the assets to cover any and all repairs and may decide to turn the place into a party home and do God knows what to the inside.

[milktoast]

Vaguely reminds me of a funny conversation with somewhat crazy neighbor.

Me: are you going to rent out your suburban house while you are away for 18 months?
Her: no. if I could find a diplomat to rent it then yes, but I don't really have time to find one
Me (in my head): we are 3000 miles from DC and you want someone who claims to have diplomatic immunity in your house???

On topic. If they have the credit score and damage deposit, then yes. But I would not hold off on a sale just to become a landlord for someone, regardless of occupation.

[J295]

OP. Why would you discontinue sale efforts? Is there a reason your home will not sell in due course for fair market value?

[Taylor Larimore]

pivoprussia:

I have a good friend that was a developer of a large luxury complex. In order to stimulate sales, he loaned rent-free one of his units to a very famous athlete and then used his fame for advertising.

A few years later when the famous athlete moved out, my friend told me that the athlete left the unit in "filthy" condition and in need of costly repairs.

If you decide to rent to a famous athlete, I suggest you require a very large advance deposit.

Best wishes.
Taylor

Jack Bogle's Words of Wisdom: "A profession once focused largely on investing became a business largely focused on marketing."

[bottlecap]

We have our house listed for sale. We would prefer to sell but if it does not sell we are open to the possibility of renting.

Our agent just informed us a famous athlete is interested in renting our house.

My concern is the individual is young and single. More than likely would have parties at the house.
A family could also cause damage but clearly the concern is greater here.

Would you rent it to them?
If so, what provisions would you include in the contract to safeguard your property?

Thanks.

If this young, single, and wealthy individual wasn't an athlete, would they miraculously be less likely to have parties at the house?

OP didn’t mention wealth, but probably. I doubt a young accountant or young physician would be as likely to have wild, burn down the house parties than a young athlete.

However, the two good things about a famous athlete is that it’s much easier to find out whether they are the type to have and crazy party and, if you turn out to be wrong, they can afford to pay for the damage.

Most tenants are a risk. At least this tenant likely has more than enough money to compensate you for that risk. Get some of it up front if you can.

JT

[jand87]

Yes I would. Just hire a property management company if you're uncomfortable.

[Tdubs]

My FIL was very satisfied with his experience renting his condo to MLB players during spring training, and he is picky about tenants.

[jjface]

Depends what sport and what team

[J295]

...
Our agent just informed us a famous athlete is interested in renting our house.

My concern is the individual is young and single. More than likely would have parties at the house.
A family could also cause damage but clearly the concern is greater here

Unfair and inappropriate assumptions and stereotyping.

[Mr.BB]

It's irrelevant if the person is famous our not. All that matters is can they pay the rent, make sure the contract has them paying for any and all damages they or their guest cause, especially damage from cigarettes, cigars or smoke. I would also do a "detailed" walk around video of everything in the house showing it's condition before you leave. No detail is too small, conditions of the kitchen cabinets, carpeting, etc. If this famous person has a FB or Instagram account check them out, do they show parties at their house, are they sloppy or neat?

[oldfort]

If you go into the landlord business, you have to be very careful how you set your tenant criteria. Otherwise, you can run afoul of anti-discrimination laws.

[1130Super]

...
Our agent just informed us a famous athlete is interested in renting our house.

My concern is the individual is young and single. More than likely would have parties at the house.
A family could also cause damage but clearly the concern is greater here

Unfair and inappropriate assumptions and stereotyping.

+1 not renting to someone based on age and marital status is a huge NO NO

[stoptothink]

We have our house listed for sale. We would prefer to sell but if it does not sell we are open to the possibility of renting.

Our agent just informed us a famous athlete is interested in renting our house.

My concern is the individual is young and single. More than likely would have parties at the house.
A family could also cause damage but clearly the concern is greater here.

Would you rent it to them?
If so, what provisions would you include in the contract to safeguard your property?

Thanks.

If this young, single, and wealthy individual wasn't an athlete, would they miraculously be less likely to have parties at the house?

OP didn’t mention wealth, but probably. I doubt a young accountant or young physician would be as likely to have wild, burn down the house parties than a young athlete.

What an odd stereotype. I work with a ton of (young, single) professional athletes and I don't agree.

[quantAndHold]

I suspect if you don’t rent to him you’ll be violating fair housing laws.

The basic rule of thumb is that you need to use the same criteria for evaluating every potential tenant. And the criteria can’t include things that he can’t control, like being young or single.

The worst problem tenant I ever had was a middle aged accountant who made $200k. He would get drunk and either break parts of my house, or get in fights with the neighbors.

[snackdog]

Athletes can make fabulous tenants. They can also be horrible tenants. Or somewhere in between,

[Pacific]

Yes, I would

Please send me your details as Antonio Brown is looking to rent a place.

[Cam894]

Oddly enough I had a similar request.

My house was listed for sale and they were filming a movie in town. (With Sharon Stone, actually). Agent wanted to know if I would rent it short term. Not to Sharon Stone, one of the minions on the movie.

Thought about it and said no. Seemed like possible trouble for money I didn't really need.

This sounds like something different. But on a related note. If you are ever asked to rent your house as a movie set. Make sure they will cover utilities. The equipment will rack up the power bill like you wouldn't believe. Not that the house will even be able to power all of the lighting fixtures they will bring in.

Learned this from a professor in college who worked on film sets. I ended up in a different sector of the industry but can speak for the validity.

[rustymutt]

No way do I want to manage property. It's hard enough managing my home, and yard. Bug spray, insurance, mowing, watering, feeding, weeding, and so on so forth. 1 is enough for me.