So...My Old Apartment Is Listed on Craigslist

My uncle, a real estate agent, came over on Saturday and informed me that the house Kevin and I were living in is still on the market (I already knew though because I check it regularly on MLS), but that our old landlord did get an offer for the house. That offer fell through. My uncle asked me if I thought he would re-rent the upstairs apartment in the meantime. I'd checked a while ago, but not recently, so I went onto Craigslist (the method our landlord used when we found the apartment) to do some sleuthing. 

Guess what? He's got it listed. What a shocker....

$925 / 1br - 650ft² - Bright, clean, recently updated 2nd fl. apmt, Central A/C, all-inclu.

This listing is for an unfurnished, UNbasement ;) clean, bright and quiet apartment on the 2nd floor of a house. There is hardwood throughout with a separate entrance off the main hallway.

Rent includes all utilities, cable with most specialty channels, hi-speed Wi-Fi internet. Sorry no laundry facility but there is a Laundromat literally 2 minutes walking distance.
Ample street parking and permit is $14/month from the city.
This apartment is well-suited for a young professional who enjoys quiet M-F evenings but comes alive on the weekends. ***Rent for couples is $975; 1st and last months rent required upon signing.
Not suited for families.

HA!

There is so much wrong with this listing!

650ft² 

I measured the apartment while living there to make as accurate as possible a floor plan on floorplanner.com. If you include everything (stairs, closets, space taken up with counters, etc), the apartment is 504 square feet. I don't know where he came up with the extra 146 square feet...

Central A/C

The kitchen didn't have a working vent and the living room had little/no insulation on the exterior walls or floor. We had fans/heaters going about 10 months a year.

Hardwood

The kitchen is poorly installed laminate and the rest was hardwood, but was original and in desperate need of replace (re: stained with a bad shellacking job). People regularly told us they felt like they were on a boat because the floor was so crooked.  

Separate Entrance

I don't know how he's gonna get around this one... The entrance is most definitely shared.

When Kevin and I first saw this listed a couple years ago, he had it posted at $925. Then he lowered the price to $825 a few weeks later, so we went for a viewing. We knew the place was small, but we also knew that it was temporary and that we'd be able to save a bunch of money towards a down payment - and we did exactly that. (It also included laundry, but we had to walk through his unit to do it... which I admit, must've sucked for him, but we set up a schedule with him and only did laundry on Monday nights).

I know I sound like I'm ragging on my old landlord a lot, but I just don't get this guy. When I told him last year that Kevin and I bought a condo, he asked if we planned on staying until it was built and I told him we definitely would. He seemed relieved not to have to find new tenants. But then a few months later he told me he wanted to put the house up for sale, so we gave notice and left. Living in a space where you constantly have strangers walking through is not fun. He told me his intention was to sell the house and rent an apartment downtown with his friend. 

Whaaaat??...

If I owned a duplex house, and had secured tenants in one of the units, I would just get tenants for the other unit if I were planning on becoming a renter again. I never asked him, so I'll never know his reasons, but doesn't it seem weird that he's selling to become a renter?

Anyhow, long story short: He listed the house way too high (according to my uncle and all the real estate agents that came by for the open houses) so it hasn't sold yet and now he's looking to re-rent the upstairs unit again, but this time for 18% more than we paid and not including laundry anymore...

If he wanted more rent, he should've just upped the rent a bit while we were living there - that's totally reasonable and to be honest, we expected it! Because now, even if he gets the higher rent ($975), he's already lost 3 months of rent since we left (including October). So over the next 12 months, assuming best case scenario (he gets a couple in there for $975 starting Nov 1st), he'll be down $675. If he gets a single person in there who would pay $925, he’ll be down even more with $1275 in lost rent.

Date	Our Rent	New Rent (Couple)	New Rent (Single)
Aug-11	$825	-	-
Sep-11	$825	-	-
Oct-11	$825	-	-
Nov-11	$825	$975	$925
Dec-11	$825	$975	$925
Jan-12	$825	$975	$925
Feb-12	$825	$975	$925
Mar-12	$825	$975	$925
Apr-12	$825	$975	$925
May-12	$825	$975	$925
Jun-12	$825	$975	$925
Jul-12	$825	$975	$925
Aug-12	$825	$975	$925
Sep-12	$825	$975	$925
Oct-12	$825	$975	$925
TOTAL	$12,375	$11,700	$11,100

I know it’s not a huge amount, but I’ve always been taught a bird in the hand is worth 2 in the bush!

P.S. Feel free to laugh if you thought this because I totally did: Maybe he hated us and thought we were horrible tenants and this was all a huge ploy to get rid of me and Kevin...