Would you rent an apartment to a trader

We own a rental property in the city, an apartment which we rent out. Our long time tenant moved out, so we held a open house to screen new applicants.

We had this nice young couple come by, his wife is a nurse and he said a self employed trader. In talking with the trader, he said he has been trading for couple of years with 'mixed' results, he said. What raised a flag for me, was when he mentioned they just sold their apartment to raise money for his trading.

They would qualify based on his wife's income, but their budget would be tight.

So, would you rent an apartment to a trader? I am not interested in the rental aspect of it, but the psychological aspect of a trader. The gamblers tendency, the instability, the unpredictability of our profession. Thank you.

PS. I am a part time trader. Despite years and years of effort, never made enough money to make it a full time profession.(sigh)

 

"I don't care to belong to any club that will have me as a member"

 

In your case, yes. As the wife has a stable job. If it was just the husband; hell no.

 

A long time trader is everything but a gambler IMO (in the pejorative way)

If he's capitalized and savvy enough, he'll have the ability to pay you for a couple of years at least. So he's probably not worse than any other.

+ the wife's job ends the discussion!

 

based on psycological aspect of trading, if the husband quotes 'mixed results' and can't provide proof of income, he's a losing trader. 100%. ask for 3 months of monthly report at least.

 

Ask for proof they have a healthy cushion of cash in low risk things like a savings account. Most traders do.

 

Why not just ask for an extra month or two rent in advance? If they are financially comfortable they will have no problem paying it, although don't go too far, they have a concern too that you might be a crappy landlord and they won't want to take the credit risk on you either. Or just ask for proof of sufficient funds. When I rent, I generally just show a bank savings account with plenty of cash in it, and that's enough for a landlord. The thing about most traders is they have to have plenty of cash just to fund their trading positions - their trading will become impossible once they go below 25k (for stock traders) or 5-10k (futures/FX), so they hit that buffer way before they run out of cash for one or two months apartment rent.

Overall IMO you should be more focused on their references, their credit score, their past renting history (e.g. 3 places in 3 years is potentially questionable, unless all 3 references are good) and so on. Find out if they are likely to trash the place, stop paying rent, then fight eviction, that's your #1 concern as a landlord, not whether they might run out of cash after a year and have to move out.

Of course, if you are being deluged with doctors, lawyers, and high-level government employees banking coin and falling over themselves to rent your apartment, then go ahead and take one. But if this couple are the best potential tenants you've seen so far, then consider offering them the terms I suggested. It all depends on how likely you are to find significantly better tenants than them in the next few weeks.

 

I would just assume the wife is renting the apt and paying all the bills. Assume this guy is unemployed and ask yourself if you would rent to her had she been living alone.

 

Thank you all for your replies. Regarding the real estate aspect of my post, unfortunatly New York City housing laws seem to favor the tenant. It takes many months and considerable amount of effort to get one evicted.

Other aspects would be the general uncertainty of our chosen profession. Setting up LLC etc aside. Most retail traders are one trade away from financial calamity. Being short crude oil when Iran decides to nuke Saudi Arabia or long stock index futures when the great California earth quake finally happens. and countless other black swans.

One other issue with traders, our livelihood tends to effect those around us. the consequences seem to spill over in other areas of our lives. I mean this trader's decision to sell their home to raise a trading stake, even though he is not profitable, doesn't seem all that prudent.

 

BM,

Most everything is uncertain - if you think about it


And most citizens are a layoff, and about 1 paycheck – away from financial ruin

The difference is a trader has total control whether it happens – or not


Have a talk (iow tell him your concerns) with the trader in question – you being one – should be able to get a read on his internal make up


RN