- What if the Good Life Requires Giving Up Some Freedom? - September 15, 2026
- What Climbing Grouse Mountain Taught Me About Financial Freedom - August 18, 2026
- My Apartment Gave Me Something That Money Can’t Buy - August 4, 2026
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Now, on to the post.
It’s not easy being a renter.
Not only is the social pressure always on you to “grow up” and buy, there’s dealing with crappy landlords, surprise rent increases, and renovictions. For many people, these problems are so serious that they buy just to not have to deal with the headaches anymore.
There’s a problem with this approach.
First of all, becoming a homeowner doesn’t make the problems of renting just go away. Instead, it replaces them with a whole new set of problems, and in many cases they’re much more expensive. If your boiler breaks or your roof starts leaking, there’s no landlord to complain to. It’s now your problem. Also, you’re now indebted to the bank, owe the government property taxes, and pay way more for insurance.
And second, many of the issues you deal with as a renter can be mitigated by how you choose your rental.
Landlording is one of the most heavily regulated businesses out there, but many renters don’t realize what protections are available to them, and also don’t realize the traps that they can fall into that put them at a power disadvantage.
FIRECracker and I have been renting now for over 20 years, and in that time we’ve had awesome landlords, awful landlords, and everything in between.
And because we’ve rented for so long, we’ve developed a kind of sixth sense for how to find a good apartment, as well as getting landlords to like us. This latest move that we just made, we applied to 4 different places and got accepted by all of them.
Here’s what we learned.
Prioritize Ownership Structure
Every city has different rules, but if you live in a city with some form of rent control, meaning the landlord is limited in how much they can raise the rent each year, that’s a massive advantage in your favour. However, too many renters accidentally give up this advantage by picking the wrong units.
Sometimes rent control laws aren’t universal and apply only to certain units. For example, in Toronto, rent control only applies to units that were first rented out on or before November 15, 2018. So if prospective renters look at units that are newer built because they look nicer, they are giving up a massively powerful card in their hands.
Another mistake renters make is renting out a condo that’s owned by an individual landlord. Even if that unit is technically covered by rent control, these protections can be bypassed if the owner sells the unit. In a rising real estate market, it’s very tempting for an individual owner to cash out and evict their tenant, especially if that tenant is paying below market rates.
Owners can also choose to move into the unit themselves, which has the same effect. There are ways to sue the owner if you can prove they did this just to bypass rent control, but that doesn’t help you move back in.
For that reason, we only look at purpose-built rental buildings that are multi-unit, with either an individual or a management company that owns the entire building. These units can’t be individually sold out from under you, and the landlord generally can’t claim they need your unit for themselves when there are other units available.
Other people care about the views or the granite countertops. We ignore all that and instead care about each unit’s ownership structure. As a result, we’ve never been forced to move by an unscrupulous landlord trying to raise our rent.
Research the Management Company
Management companies for apartment buildings, like individual landlords, run the gamut from being awesome to being slumlords. Always Google the name of the management company to see if they’ve been named in any lawsuits or cited by the city.
Check out the common areas of each building and see how well maintained they are. Pay particular attention to lawns, laundry rooms, and amenity rooms. If the grass is neatly trimmed, they probably care about doing a good job.
Also, it really helps to come back to the building when the landlord’s not there and chat with some of the other tenants as they leave the building. Ask them if they enjoy living there, and if they have any issues with the landlord. If there are problems, you will hear about it.
Check the Taps
This seems kind of silly, but always turn on the taps of any units you view. Most landlords, even bad ones, will superficially fix a place up before they show it. But if the water pressure sucks, or the hot water doesn’t work, then that indicates a systemic issue in the building that isn’t being fixed.
Treat Viewings Like a Job Interview
I’ve been harping on bad landlords this entire time, so let’s change it up and talk about how to be a good tenant.
Always be respectful, courteous, and PUNCTUAL. If you say you’re going to show up at 10:00 AM, be there 5 minutes early.
Look presentable. Comb your hair, trim your nails, and dress up. Landlords only have a few minutes to form an opinion about you, and you want to make it easy for them to think of you as a polite, organized professional that will likely pay their rent on time and not build a meth lab.
Besides, you can always change back into your “I’m with stupid” t-shirt after you move in.
Have Your Paperwork Ready
I am always amazed by people going to a rental viewing and acting surprised when they’re asked to provide a pay stub. Every landlord asks for the same paperwork: good credit, a pay stub to prove you’re employed, a recent bank account statement, and a reference from your old landlord. Make sure your landlord can access that information (with account numbers redacted, of course) and that they prove you are a good tenant with good financial standing.
Protip: For FIRE people who don’t have a regular, salaried job, this part can be a bit challenging. Even if you can’t provide a paystub, you can provide your previous year’s Notice of Assessment (aka your tax return), as well as a bank statement showing plenty of cash. Americans can use IRS Form 1040 or request a Tax Return Transcript from the IRS online portal.
Pit Them Against Each Other
Hopefully, if you’ve followed these tips and you’ve applied to some units that you like, soon you’ll have your first acceptance.
This is when you can put landlords against each other.
As soon you get one acceptance, immediately inform all the other landlords at future viewing you’ve been approved and they are pushing you to make a decision quickly. Things tend to go very quickly at this point because once you’ve been accepted by one landlord, the others jump on you like hungry cats.
Now is also the time to pit landlords against each other to negotiate rent reductions or other incentives. Be professional and courteous, and use language like:
I really like (say something positive) about your building, and I would really love to be your tenant. If you lower your rent to (amount), I’d be comfortable signing with you right away.
Conclusion
Being a good renter is more than just paying your rent on time and taking care of the place. Being a good renter means being good at the process of finding good rentals, and it’s a skill just like any other that you get better at over time with practice.
However, many renters keep making the same mistakes over and over again, and mistakenly conclude that renting is just too hard so they have to buy instead. If you want to become a homeowner because you want to be a homeowner, fine. Go for it. But don’t blame the rental market for forcing you to go into debt.
Navigating the rental market is a game. There are rules, there are strategies that you can learn, and there are tips and techniques you can use to gain an advantage over your opponents, which are the landlords.
And if you invest the time to get good at this game, you can find yourself consistently living in nice places, pay below market rent, and not worry about being evicted.
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great advice … . we were accepted to a multi building .
we went back at 7pm . when all the tenants were around to check out the noise
1pm is useless , people are at work
Excellent advice! One addition to your Pro Tip: as early retirees, there can be years where your taxable income is much lower than you spending ability. In this case, we didn’t want to provide our race return or our investment account statement so, instead, we provided a year of monthly bank statements showing the income coming in from our investment account. Landlords were just fine with that. In our late 50s and loving not owning a home 😁
Sorry…”tax return” in the above comment. Auto-correct?!?!?
the same motivation making an “unscrupulous” landlord earn as much as possible from renters is the same energy as renters wanting to pay as little as possible for it. no need to make moral judgments on one side when you’re just trying to take advantage of them too.
Really enjoy your posts. Informative AND entertaining, to the point I might convince my kids to read it as well!
Renting and investing is the way to go
I’m glad I bought a place. Value went up over 300k in the last 5 years, plus I was able to rent out two room to students. I put exterior doors on each of the bedrooms and put a mini kitchenette in as well as each room has its own bathroom, so never see the renters, in my own personal space. Sorry to say homeownership is far superior to renting if done right.
Check out their most recent portfolio’s update. It is up like 500,000 in 2025 alone. Something to think about..
You now have roommates. If I buy a house, I want it to be my private kingdom, not a frat house or dorm.
To each their own in the end.
In no way did your post convince me of the greatness of buying a place and then getting roommates. Also, you can say whatever you like that the value of what you bought went up $300k. Until you sell it, your downpayment has become dead money and the supposed increase in value only realizes at sale. Or did you go back to the bank to refinance the place and now pay the bank interest on your own equity? Only the bank wins in that scenario.
….yet another pro-tip (probably more suited to single people who are in the accumulation phase). Consider renting a room in a house/apt. Renting a room can be very low hanging fruit for an additional $1K+ of cashflow each month… that’s the kinda $$$ that starts moving up the FIRE date !
Start with family, friends, and coworkers. A lot of these folks never even thought of renting out an unused bedroom.
I lived with flatmates during my 4 years of uni and sometimes I got great flatmates and sometimes not, depended on who the landlord/head flatmate chose. I have owned 2 own homes and 2 rental properties since 2009 after graduation, and I am pro property when starting out. First of all, I can choose my own flatmates and if someone is continuously too noisy or not cleaning after themselves, they are given notice. Each of the properties, I held for 2-5yrs and renovated them mostly myself and sold them for twice the amount I bought for after expenses not including the rent received. The proceeds were than invested in ETFs and the current house I own. Initially I lived in one of the rooms in the house with flatmates and later building a small independent unit at the back thus having best of both worlds. I agree that if done right and with a little bit of patience, houses can get you a good start and ETFs gets you to the goal. But everyone’s preferences and journeys are different.
I am a landlord and we treat our tenants very well as long as they treat us well (pay the rent on time and don’t damage the property). It can be a win-win situation.
Some states such as Colorado have laws which protect the renter over the property owner.
Owning rental property is just another form of investment – it is a way diversify away from just owning stocks.
How much time do you spend each day on your social influencing jobs?
excellent analysis
geometry lite 2 demands players to sense the beat of the music in order to execute exact moves; it’s not simply about hopping over barriers.
Good tips on finding good rental deals timing and neighborhood research really make a difference. Using resources like Camden County parcel can help you better understand local value trends before making a decision. Also, comparing multiple listings and being open to negotiation can significantly lower monthly rent. Overall, a careful approach like this helps avoid overpaying and getting better long-term value.
Great tips on finding good rental deals in today’s market. I also like checking local data like Portage County Statements trends and neighborhood insights before deciding on a lease. It really helps compare value and avoid overpaying in competitive areas. Smart research like this makes a big difference when choosing the right place.
Kristy, will you still be able to do home exchanges in your new rental??
Thanks escape road 3
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Finding a good rental deal really comes down to comparing options and checking the details before signing anything. I also think doing some basic research can help you make more informed decisions, especially when reviewing local information. For those researching related public records Nevada Court Search can be a useful resource. Taking a little extra time to verify everything can save money and prevent surprises later.
I really like the point about checking how well a building is maintained before deciding to rent it. A place can look great during a quick viewing, but the condition of the common areas and the little maintenance details can tell you a lot about how the property is actually managed. It made me think about how important rental property maintenance is, especially with vacation rentals where guests notice those details pretty quickly.