How do you assess young applicants?

[Angie W.]

My rental is in an older, lower middle class neighborhood with houses under 1000 sq ft. Being such, most of my applicants are early to mid 20's with maybe a high school education.

Being so young, many times the have no rental history (first time on their own) or are on their first rental. In addition employment history is also short, no credit etc.

Ideally, I would like to rent to someone with solid work and rental histories but with my applicant pool most times this won't be possible.

I've owned the property for 3 years and my first tenant was a first time renter with a good job. We gave him a chance based on his job and our interview with him. He turned out to be a great tenant, but in the end got mixed up with the wrong girl. He always paid the rent in advance, and verified anything with us that he wasn't sure about. 1 1/2 years into his tenancy he moved in a girlfriend from hell who was a professional tenant without our knowledge. It's a long story, but even though it did not end well, I would still give him a good reference because he never gave me any problems, he was just naive and got himself into an impossible situation before he knew what was coming.

Now I have a couple in their mid 20's with a young child. It appears that the husband works for his father in law, and that they all currently live with her parents. They are 25 and 27 and have only rented one place for a total of 8 months.

When dealing with younger applicants what do you go on? Beyond the obvious -no record, evictions etc - How do you decide whether they are a good risk or not? Anything special you look/watch out for?

It seems every one has a "story"...