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Rent4Ever says

As a longtime renter I've learned that finding a good, stable, honest landlord is equally as important to finding a good place to live. Good tenants should ask very pointed questions of the landlord when they decide to rent.

Very good points. Once our lease on this apartment is up, we will be looking for a privately owned property to rent. I know of a few friends & family members that have houses & stuff for rent, so I could probably work a deal out. I don't mind yard work or house maintenance activities, and they know that I am anal-retentive about things being done right, so I'd hope that that could get me a small break on rent. It would be nice to rent a place for 5+ years with no rent increases (like Mr. edvard2). Given that any old-timers with rental properties are basically pulling pure profit, there isn't all that much incentive for them to crank rents versus find solid, long-term tenants. The trick is finding those properties!

bmwman91 says

Given that any old-timers with rental properties are basically pulling pure profit, there isn't all that much incentive for them to crank rents versus find solid, long-term tenants. The trick is finding those properties!

Hmmm, maybe I could help with this.

It is at least theoretically possible to figure out who the landlord is for small properties, and how long they've owned it. If they've paid the property tax for 20 or 30 years, they're an old-timer.

Maybe another service to add to Patrick.net Premium.

Yeah, if you could connect us housing bears with reasonable landlords that want GOOD tenants...that would be pretty cool.

I wonder what some of you define as a "reasonable" or "good" landlord. I am currently both a landlord and a tenant. I have been a landlord for 20 years in fact but am myself currently renting the house Iive in.

To me a the best tenant is someone who pays the rent, never calls me for anything and improves the house ;-)

The best landlord is similar: doesn't raise the rent, fixes things when they need it, but otherwise doesn't show up.

Interesting. I don't think there are any landlord rating services. Though there are many tenant investigation services, like this one:

http://www.tenantverification.com/?ref=472

E-man says

How would you know that these old-timers didn't HELOC the hell out of the property, and the property is on its way to foreclosure?

Aren't those HELOCs public record in theory?

The best landlord is similar: doesn't raise the rent, fixes things when they need it, but otherwise doesn't show up.

Interesting. I don't think there are any landlord rating services. Though there are many tenant investigation services, like this one:

http://www.tenantverification.com/?ref=472

Yes, and what's interesting is the vetting process that landlords put tenants through. Including credit checks, paystubs, references, etc...(which is completely understandable) However, as a longterm renter myself, when I move I plan on putting the landlord through a very similar vetting process. As a tenant that is renting longterm, I do not want to have my rents increased unreasonably, (So I'd like to speak with former tenants) I don't want the property to be sold and a new landlord to come in, and I certainly don't want to have a landlord that is in financial problems and possibly susceptible to foreclosure.

Pairing "good" tenants with "good" landlords is a service that is missing.

You're right -- tenants should be able to rate their landlords!

It's awkward when you're living there, since the landlord still has some control, but once the tenant has moved, he'll probably be pretty honest and open.

So maybe I should have a "Former Tenants Rate Landlords" service. What do you think, just another forum, or is there some better way to do it?

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Kind of like the reason there are no comprehensive doctor review sites - fear of lawsuits.

But if you are stating fact, or just giving your opinion, I don't see what you could actually be sued for. That case in the link is about a complex that claims a rival complex was writing fraudulent reviews. The solution to that is to require the reviewer to post the exact address and period of time they rented there.

But that would give away your anonymity to the landlord. Would people still write reviews in that case? I'm guessing some tenants are angry enough that they would.

I have looked for an written reviews on a couple of apartment review sites. They were marginally helpful. All of the real ones were generally somewhere between negative and scathing. The positive ones were generally REALLY positive, to the point that I had to assume that the property manager wrote them. I assume that all of the real reviews were negative because the only people that take the time to write a review of an apartment are angry ones. That's why I was on there lol.

I agree - positive reviews of anything are usually indistinguishable from advertising, and so not very useful unless you actually know and trust the person who wrote them.

Negative reviews are much more useful.

Maybe this would make a good Facebook app, where people put their real identity down. Or maybe I should require real names along with addresses to write a landlord review on Patrick.net? Would anyone do it?