About

Who are we?

We are a husband and wife team that own rental properties in the Columbus area.  We are professional landlords who have been in this business over 20 years.  We have quality properties that are well maintained with happy tenants who appreciate and care for those properties.  Our tenants are important to us and we take pride in providing quality housing for them to call home. 

Leasing Requirements

All of our properties are NO PET, NO SMOKING properties.  Do not expect us to make an exception.  We have these rules for a reason and we will not make any exceptions for anyone under any circumstance.  Some of our properties have parking restrictions or other rules established by the communities in which the properties are located.  All potential tenants must be able to comply with all rules and restrictions.

Our primary goal is to rent our properties to tenants with these qualities:

  1. You will take care of the property.
  2. You will pay your rent on time every month.
  3. You will be a good neighbor.

​With those qualities in mind, we evaluate every applicant and every application based on their own merits since each situation is different.  While adhering to all fair housing rules, in general the following situations may disqualify potential tenants:

  • Evictions or eviction filings.  Even if you were not officially evicted, if a landlord filed an eviction against you your application may be denied.
  • Certain criminal convictions. We are required by law to review all criminal convictions on a case-by-case basis, which we will do.  In general, criminal convictions for drugs, violence or theft/dishonesty may be cause for your application to be denied.
  • Credit score below 500. While your score is not of utmost importance to us and we do occasionally accept applicants with bad credit due to certain circumstances, in general a credit score below 500 may cause your application to be denied.
  • Combined monthly household income of less than 3x rent. This is the gross amount of money you earn in a month. You must earn enough money to pay the rent.  Income may be combined for multiple applicants depending on circumstances.  If you do not earn enough money or are unable to provide proof of income your application may be denied. This is a guideline; some applicants may be required to make more money if their debt is high.
  • Stable employment. You must be able to demonstrate stable employment history. Typically, this means you must be at your current job at least 6 months. If you haven’t been at your current job 6 months, you must demonstrate that you’ve had consistent, steady employment prior to your current job.
  • Unable to show a responsible rental history.  If you cannot provide a good reference for a previous landlord or if you cannot provide history of residence for the previous 5 years your application may be denied.

​​This is not a complete list of qualifications, but a good summary of the general requirements.

Showings

We do not live in Columbus and are not available at the drop of a hat to show a property.  All showings must be scheduled in advance with us.  To schedule a showing, the information we request on our CONTACT page must first be submitted.  If after review of your information we would like to meet with you and show you our property, you will be contacted for a showing appointment.   We will confirm your appointment with you on the day the showing is scheduled.  Because we do not live in town we do not show up for appointments that have not been confirmed so you will need to be sure respond when we contact you for confirmation.

Application

We do not accept any applications on our properties until you have first met with us and viewed the property.  It seems to us that tenants should want to see the community and property they would potentially be living in before paying to submit an application for that property. With that in mind, all potential tenants must schedule a showing with us and view the property.  If after that showing everyone agrees to proceed to the Application step, all applicants 18 and over will be given information on how to apply.  Your application will be processed by a third-party who is legally allowed to obtain your social security number and run your credit, background and eviction reports.  You will pay the application fee (whatever it may be at the time you apply) directly to this third party.  We do not take payment for or profit from your application fee in any way.  Applications are generally processed by the third-party within a few minutes when all information is provided.  It may take up to 2 days for us to verify application information before making a decision.  In cases where there are multiple qualified applicants for a property the best qualified applicant will be the first offered tenancy. 

Lease term and fees

All new tenants are started on month-to-month rental agreements for the first 6 months.  This is not because we want short term tenants or expect our tenants to stay only a few months, it is because we have learned that the best landlord/tenant relationships are those where all parties are in them by choice.  With a month-to-month tenancy, everyone stays in the relationship as long as they are happy.  As a tenant, this means you are not locked in to a home, a neighborhood, or a landlord where you are not happy.  As landlords, this means our tenants fulfill their obligations or tenancy is terminated.  Everyone is on their best behavior in this arrangement and that is for everyone’s benefit.  We do not use this arrangement to raise your rent and will guarantee your rental rate for at least the first year of tenancy.  If after the first 6 months you wish to transfer to a longer term lease that is certainly something that can be considered if all parties are agreeable.  We have many happy tenants who have been with us for years on month-to-month agreements.

All of our properties require a refundable security deposit equal to one month’s rent.  If you are leasing a property where you will not take possession within 10 days you will be required to pay a hold fee to us to reserve that property for you.  This hold fee is applied to your payment due when you take possession of the property. The hold fee is your guarantee that we will not lease the property to someone else, and it is our guarantee that you will not change your mind and lease a different property after we hold it for you.  Until the hold fee is paid we will continue to market the property and accept applications.  If another application is accepted, the first applicant to pay the hold fee will be granted tenancy.