Potential renter wants to pay full years rent up front ($54k)

[David P.]

Hello guys,

So i have a property i been trying to rent out for a month now with limited response. Today i get a text from a mom and 2 kids. Recently seperated. She said she is willing to pay a full year up front which comes out to $54k. Also willing to give any security deposit I want. She said only thing is she filed for bankrutpcy last year and claims it was a troubled Ex that rang up her credit bills. All of this smells like trouble. She emailed me her credit report which shows 697 with the bankruptcy. If i go through with her I will still make sure she fills out a formal application that pulls her credit and not trust any PDF's she is mailing me. Would you guys consider this tenant or does she smell like trouble? She claims she has 600k in savings and will be sending me bank statements too. I don't know what to think of this considering she still hasn't even toured the property yet but is very eager to move in. Thanks as always. I found her on linkedin and she says she is a title 24 business owner and makes 20-24k a month. Not sure what title 24 is...I never came across this scenario and the full year rent up front sounds tempting but that would also mean i would have a trouble getting her out if she became a problem tenant.

[Greg M.]

Let's break this down:

She hid $600,000 from the bankruptcy court. This is fraud.

She screwed over credit card companies for $38,000. Again, fraud.

She is running her business in a way that you think may be to avoid taxes. Yep, fraud again.

She lied about her credit score. If you think 636 and 696 are close, you need to look up the definition of the word close. 

She lied about her having a landlord.

She lied about her current house being sold.

She has $600,000 in cash in a safe. 

Other than her repeated acts of fraud, her willfully screwing over others, her multiple lies, and her potential money laundering, she seems like a salt of the earth person. 

BTW, you will likely have to place that money in an escrow account. It will be reported to the government under the Patriot Act. Some computer somewhere may match up this transaction with the bankruptcy. **** will hit the fan.