“Trust Your Gut”: College Student Panics After Landlord Makes Creepy Comments During Room Tour
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Imagine looking for a place to rent while you’re in college. You might consider dorms, apartments, or a spare room in a landlord’s house.
Imagine considering the last option but then changing your mind and deciding to get an apartment instead. What would you do if the person who owned the home you were considering kept texting you and trying to talk you into renting a room from him instead of getting an apartment? Would you listen to him and agree to it or feel pretty creeped out by the texts?
In this story, one person is in this situation, and it goes from annoying to creepy pretty quickly. I definitely think the student made the right decision, and I’d also advise blocking this guy’s number.
Keep reading to see if you agree.
AIO about this prospective landlord?
I’m starting grad school in the fall and have been looking for housing.
I communicated with a prospective landlord who was new to one of the housing websites I’ve been using and really wanted me to rent the spare room in his home.
He was trying to find ways to get me to commit to his room (lowering the rent, offering to buy a certain mattress) but I made it clear from the get-go I wasn’t sure I wanted to commit.
The landlord shared why he wanted to rent a room.
The main reason he was looking to rent the room was less about $$ and more about wanting company since his wife of many years unexpectedly passed away recently.
I told him that I’ll gone most of the day in school and that while I’m happy to chat from time to time, often I need my own space if I’m tired.
A few weeks go by and he texts me yesterday to see if I still want to rent from him.
OP is considering other options.
I told him I’m looking into apartments.
He says they’re expensive and require paying utilities.
While that’s true that living with a roommate is cheaper, the apartments I’m looking at are within my budget AND utilities are included in the rent.
This really is a lot to ask.
This morning he asks me to come check out his rental suite and give me feedback on it once I relocate to my new state. He also says he can offer me free food.
I told him I won’t have time to do that because I’m in an accelerated professional degree program. I also said that he should get feedback from people who stay in his home once he gets tenants.
Honestly I think that’s a big ask from someone who I’ve never rented from, especially as I’ve never met him in person.
This landlord needs to back off. I think he’s scaring away potential renters.
He said he’s struggling to find people to rent from him because they only want to stay for 1-2 months and/or have huge dogs.
It’s fine that he wants 3+ month renters and no dogs – his house, his rules. But he seems really disappointed I don’t want to rent from him and isn’t taking it well.
He says that “word to the wise – living alone can be lonely”.
I was very taken aback by this as I’ve lived alone most of my adult life. Plenty of adults do.
This guy is giving way too much advice to a stranger who doesn’t want to rent from him.
I replied that I’d rather have my own space, especially when I’m in school and again emphasized I never committed to signing the lease with him.
Then he says I strung him along, someday I’ll realize that the only thing that matters in life is the friendships I make, and nobody will care what I accomplish.
I love my friends but that doesn’t mean my professional accomplishments don’t matter. I worked really hard to get into my graduate program and am excited to start this next chapter of my life! I don’t need some guy who I’ve never met in person minimize my accomplishments.
I told him that what he wrote has nothing to do with my decision to live an apartment and he should have left the conversation at that yesterday, not text me the next morning asking him for feedback on his place. I said he can’t take NO for an answer and doesn’t understand NO is a complete sentence.
Talk about creepy!
Though this was mentioned when we spoke on the phone a few weeks ago as opposed to the texts, he said he has a vacation home and we can take a vacation together.
That just creeped me out. No I’m not going on a vacation alone with my landlord!!
AIO or would you get bad vibes from this person?
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Yikes! That landlord really does sound creepy. Maybe he’s a lonely widower, but I would steer clear of him at all costs. He needs a dating app or a friend group, not a roommate to stalk!
Let’s see how Reddit reacted.
This person thinks the guy sounds like a creep.
Another person reassures her that she’s making the right decision.
Even if he’s not a bad person, this is weird behavior.
If you enjoyed this post, check out this story about neighbors who intentionally tank an open house sale because they want to buy the property themselves.
Here’s a vote to block him.
She needs to stop engaging with him. Stop responding to his texts. He’s a creep. Maybe he’s just a lonely man, but I would steer clear. His behavior is manipulative, creepy, and almost verging on stalking. Yikes!
I wonder if she could report him somewhere. I worry about anyone who might rent that room.
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