Think Before You Rent!

I was really excited to start apartment hunting here in Hawaii! We knew that we wanted a place that we could rent on a 6 month lease, preferably a house, included all utilities and had a washer and dryer. Well, we found a place. We were very excited about the home. It was exactly what we were looking for, except it was a huge Studio Home and it didn't include all utilities. However, the house sat on 10 acres of what I would imagine the Garden of Eden to look like, it had a beautiful ocean view and came with a two car garage with a paved circular driveway. Of course Byron liked the two car garage idea. I was just happy to find a place!

Byron and I filled out the application, and we would have to wait 2-4 days for the application process to complete. Well, 4 days turned into 3 VERY LONG weeks! The landlords turned out to be very anal about every little thing. Even though our previous landlord gave us an excellent reference and everything on our credit report checked out, they still wanted more information on us. They wanted names and numbers of friends, relatives, employers within the last 4 years etc... And yes, they called each one of them and postponed the process even longer until each person called them back with a good reference. They forgot that some employers are actually busy making money and don't have time to give a reference for a non-employment reason. Of course by the 2nd week, I was fed up. I needed to know if we could move in on the date that I signed up for, but since the application process took a whole month, they postponed the move-in date also! So after getting multiple phone calls from the landlords, I finally asked them to make a decision based on the information they had and told them we'd like to keep the original move-in date so that we can make a decision on whether this place was going to work for us. They got back to me 3 days later saying "Yes, we got the place; however wouldn't be able to move in till 4 weeks later for many annoying reasons" I told them, "No Thanks!"

Think Before You Rent!

1) Get to know your 'possible landlord'. Are they nit-picky about every little thing? Are they willing to help you with broken appliances when you call them for help?
2) If anyone moves or lives in Hawaii, remember: Landlords are only allowed to ask for a deposit that matches or is lower than the rent, not higher! Beware of craigslist renters! They will ask for $500-$800 more for the deposit. For example: The rent is $1,200, and the deposit is $2,000. AND they'll lie to you and say that their friend is a Real Estate Agent and told them this is ok to ask for more in the deposit. LIAR! This is completely Illegal in the State of Hawaii.
3) The landlord is only allowed to ask for 1st months rent and security deposit. They are not allowed to ask for 1st, Last and Security Deposit. (Can you tell I read the entire Tenant/Landlord Act for Hawaii?)
4) Tenants have the right to ask for a copy of their credit report. Do Not believe any landlord that tells you it is against the law to give a copy of your credit report to you. As a prospective tenant you have the right to request the copy and you should make it a common practice to ask for it. This ensures that you are paying for the credit report to actually be ran since some landlords will take your money and never run the report, also that your identity is protected since you know who has access to your personal information. Read the Fair Credit Reporting Act if you have any other questions.
5) Always ask the landlord what Credit Agency they will be using to check your report.

Hope these tips will help anyone who has to deal with renting. I can't wait to finally have our own home! That will be nice.

But, we did find and secure a place. Everything worked out great and yes, the landlord is pretty cool.