Tenant with a sales job, how do I verify income??

[Ben Staples]

Hi All,

I'm new to the game and have a question.  I understand the rule of verifying that the potential tenant's monthly income is 3X the monthly rent.  A potential tenant seems like a nice guy, his application looks good, and when he mentioned he was in sales, I thought nothing of it.  I get his application, and it turns out his base salery is no where near the needed amount, but he says he makes mostly commission.  My questions:

 - Should I deny him because his base salary is too low?

 - Is there any way I can verify his commission?  I'm assuming I could ask him for past pay stubs, but is there any way to guarantee his sales performance in the future?

 - Any other ideas?  

I have other options, just wanted to know as I've never come across this.

Thanks

Ben

[Rick Baggenstoss]

@Ben Staples  Pay stubs and tax returns will give you an answer.  If they provide sufficient income verification and everything else looks good, then you legally need to accept him.

You should have criteria for income, rental history, criminal history, etc. written out.  

Now to assess you 'sales risk' you need to think about what they're selling.  Are they selling 100 per month or 1 per year?  Are commissions irregular?  Does he travel or work from home?  

Might work out well.