se renta

While we both wait not-so-patiently for Rob's retirement date in three years, we rent out our casa to others through a rental agency in Mexico. So far, in the nine months since we have owned the house, we've had two renters, for a total of six months.

We know nothing about these people, as they found our house online or through ads sponsored by the rental agency, and all the financial and other dealings go through it. It's an interesting thing to speculate about who is in your house, and what they think about it, but we will never know, except for some incidental feedback from the agent ("the lady really likes the gardens, and has bought some more plants for it while she stays there"). We know that the agency checks them out to ensure that they care for the property, and takes a healthy deposit to ensure that they can pay for whatever bills they incure. Other than that, we really don't know.

We could find out more if we asked the agent, perhaps. Rob speculates that he'd like to have some contact with them; he'd like to know if there are things they don't like that we could correct, and he'd like to know if they are happy with the service the agency is providing. Perhaps he's right, but I rather like being at arms length in some ways: I know the place is occupied and being looked after, which is the main purpose of the exercise, and I don't have to think too hard about what the people are up to in our home.

Rob may soon get his wish. While I was looking at one of the message boards for our area, I came upon a posting for someone wishing to rent in our area for about one year, starting mid September. Our house seemed to fit their requirements, so I took a chance, emailed them about it, and, based on their reply, sent them pictures and some information.

Although I made it clear that they would have to deal with the agent, and they were happy to do so, having our email address, (and us having theirs), made it easy for them to ask about a number of details the other renters would not have been able to enquire about, and very easy for us to answer, provide more photos, etc. They learned more about us, as a result, and we learned a number of things about them. We've decided to let them rent for one month in September, check out the house and neighbourhood, and if they like it, rent for the longer term.

What's causing them to hold back a little, is that we'd already made arrangements to go down to our house in December. When we bought, the agent assured us that we could come down periodically during the next three years, and if someone wanted to rent our house, they would provide them with somewhere else to stay during the time we were using the property. That is what will happen in this case, if these people want the place for the long term.

It sounded really sensible in the abstract, but it is a little strange for both renters and us if it does happen. They will just get nicely settled, and feeling that the place is 'theirs' for two months, when they will have to temporarily move to another location. We will come down to our own home, but there will likely be evidence of these other people around when we do. In some ways we'll feel a bit like we're the renters in 'their' home. There are a number of things we plan to do while we are down for the month of December, such as painting the master bedroom, buying better lawn furniture, and decorating one of the bathrooms, so when they come back to the house in January, they'll find it rather different from when they left. I'll kind of want to know if they like it.

Perhaps I'll ask the rental agent to find out.