Tenants, Do Your Homework!

I just inherited a client who is living a nightmare, through no fault of his own. His employer has relocated him to my community of coverage from out of state. The client leased a nice condo unit in a popular building. That was three weeks ago. This client is now being forced to move out. Want to guess why?

Yep, the condo owner is in foreclosure, and the unit is scheduled to be auctioned at sheriff's sale very soon.

Yes, I will be showing this client a rental condo or two, in addition to some rental apartments, but it was a moment of agent-client bonding when I sat at the computer with this client and checked the online recorder of deeds file for those condos we plan to visit.

Rental clients are a much larger percentage of our business in my broker's company of late, and the newest "wrinkle" in helping a tenant on the hunt for a new home is verifying the clear title of the condo for rent. And not just a search for foreclosure problems is needed; a condo owner can be putting his tenant at risk if the owner has not been paying the condo assessments as well. In this state (Illinois), the condo association has the ability to seize the condo unit for nonpayment of assessments, and arrange for its own tenant.

Just thought I should pass this along as a "heads up" to my colleagues out there across the country, as well as folks who are searching for a home to rent. Bad things CAN happen to good people (the tenant), but we can minimize the risk by taking a moment to verify a fact or two.