Questions about being a landlord

上周五，有个Miami的网友给我发了个邮件如下。我的回答在他的问题之后 :-)

Hi Jennifer,

无意中发现了你的blog，上面关于房产的文章都特别棒，感觉收获很多！我现在有几个问题想请教一下，我有个2-2的townhouse，自己一直住，但是工作原因要搬了，准备把这个租出去，第一次做房东，有些地方还需要请教你

1.作为房东的话，需要买landlord insurance或者umbrella insurance吗？这个house的HOA应该是有master plan，但是不包里面的东西。我主要的concern是房客以及房客guest的liability问题。

You shall buy rental property insurance which covers things that are NOT covered by your HOA  master insurance. It will also cover loss of use (usually up to 24 months or a flat amount) when disaster happens and home is being repaired during with either tenants have to move out or doesn't want to pay rent). The insurance does not cover renter's personal properties such as furnitures or appliances owned by renters. Therefore, have your renters to buy renter's insurance that covers their own personal properties. Both rental insurance and especially renters insurance are not expensive. For a condo, Rental property insurance normally costs between $170-250 in California depending on deductible (自付额，$1000 or $2500), renters insurance is no more than $10 a month.

2.选择房客，因为房子是在大学附近，目前有些中国学生有意向，我比较倾向租给new graduate student，觉得容易管理，但是新生刚来没有SSN，怎么做背景调查或者收押金确保不赖账呢？

You can have them provide their bank statements that show sufficient fund, say 6 months' rent, and/or charge 双倍的security deposit.