by Lain

Created on: January 28, 2007   Last Updated: April 18, 2007

As my friend was looking for apartments this weekend she cordially asked me to be a written character reference for her, as it was required by the real estate agency as part of the screening. Of course, I answered that I would be glad to be her reference and that if she wrote the letter I would gladly sign it. To my surprise she came back with a reply of: "I'm not sure how to write a character reference or what should be included. Would you mind writing it for me?"

After searching online for similar situations I came to realize that writing character references is indeed a shaded topic. A great many people are unaware of exactly what should be said or included in a written character reference. Furthermore, help sites seem to overlook this common need and focus purely on court appearances, or employer references. In actuality, tenancy references can be just as important and need a certain quality to them not found in either of the aforementioned (especially the court appearance, and I believe it is self explanatory why.) So, for those looking to write a character reference for a friend, or for a friend to sign, here are some tips and essentials to help you out.

First of all, you'll want to choose a format for your letter. Since you're looking to make a good impression on the reader, it wouldn't hurt to be a little formal. Remember, every part of this reference letter makes an impression on the reader and thus says something about the person you are writing about. If you make your letter look professional, your friend will look professional as well. A simple block format will due to make your letter elegant, professional, and easy to follow. If you don't have a computer program to help you, that means aligning everything to the left. In this format there are no indentations, and spaces are placed between each new paragraph. If you are writing in a program such as Microsoft Word, you can get help writing your letter using one of the templates under the "New Document" section. Just choose "New from Template" or "General Templates." From there you can select the option, "Letters and Faxes."

Moving onhere is what needs to be included, whether you have a template or not. You'll want to write the date on your letter in the top left hand corner. A nice professional or formal format would be to write the entire month name out "January" and then follow it with the day and year in numerical form. Don't use any abbreviations other than those addressed here, or those you

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