Avoiding the middle-man

[William Stokes]

So I occasionally browse the Craigslist "housing wanted" section to look for potential tenants. You know... for a realtor, 1 rental contract pays your gas for the year, another pays for your phone bill, another pays for your BP pro membership, etc. I know it's like scraping the bottom of the barrel, but you do occasionally find the qualified, good quality tenant along the way (Mostly for seasonals). But as I read everyone's horrible sob stories, when I'm done wiping the tears from my face, I think that they'd be better off dealing with a landlord directly because they won't clear anyone’s application process around here.

Of course then I think about the BP community and I say there's no way in hell most BP landlords would let these people stay in their homes. I even actually saw a post (which prompted this question) where the person said "I am not looking for real estate agencies, I'm looking for landlords. I don't want to work with the middle-man." I think to myself, well your plan is flawed because 1, the middle man is free for you and saves you lots of time, and 2, landlords in this area do extremely well without the need to directly search for tenants. It’s usually the other way around.

But of course we all know the reason they don’t want to use the middle man is because they have a credit score that’s crap, a criminal rap sheet about as long as a BPpodcast, and a shaky stream of income that we don't even want to know where it comes from.

So my question for landlords is, how accepting are you for the folks that have to give you a rundown of their "situation" before they even move in? My philosophy is that if you have to make an excuse about yourself before you even sign a lease, then you will do the same every month when it's time to collect rent. But I want to hear how the guys who've been there and done that handle this particular tenant. Who has actually given the sob stories, criminal pasts, and unique income situations the benefit of the doubt?