Rent to someone who Shortsaled their home

[Robert Curls]

Hello,

I want to get other peoples opinion on this. I'm in the process of renting my home in the Tampa bay area. I have an interested party but they've disclosed that they are shortselling their home. I haven't verified income yet and they haven't filled out my application. I intend to do a background / credit check. I'm also requiring a $2k lease performance deposit first months rent of 2K.

My question is, if they can verify that their income is 3 times the monthly rent, would you still rent to someone who recently shortsaled their home or had a foreclosure?

Is this a protected class of tenants?

Thanks for your feedback!

[Cory Adams]

The short sale is a business decision. You might focus on whether or not their credit report depicts late payments though. I would not have a problem with somebody that did a short sale but I would be concerned if they were doing a short sale and had not made the mortgage payment in some time. You might also ask for a copy of the hardship letter they submitted with their short sale package.