Advice needed - Renting a room in my house

[mosesbotbol]

I was in real estate in MA for some time and a few of my friends are among the largest property rental owners in the city... Some advice I would give is...

Do not let friendship blur your responsibilities on this one. If you do, you may not be friends in the end. Don't take things for granted or assume he'll be gentle on your property or he's good for paying rent.

Things to consider:

- first and last month's rent, as well as security deposit. Security deposit must be held in escrow or dedicated account.

- videotape the condition of the apartment before he move's in and have him sign a "condition statment" of the apartment where you both agree on the state of the unit he is moving into.

- do a fixed term lease

- find out how much it is to clean your unit professionally and include one cleaning a month into the lease price. At least you know it will be cleaned once a month.