NEED HELP! Should I rent to this person or not?

[Siraj Ahmed]

Hi BP members, 

I am turning to everyone here for help in helping me decide if I should rent to a potential tenant or not. My condo is in a B neighborhood but due to the slow demand, I have not had a good pool of candidates here in Palatine. 

One person I got has been living in his own townhouse for the last 14 years. He bought and then went underwater on his mortgage so he has decided to foreclose on it. Due to the foreclosure, his credit is close to 600. I performed a credit/background check and had a misdemeanor charge of retail theft that he claims that he was not charged for and that it was a misunderstanding. 

He works full-time, and makes about 2.5X the rent amount. He is close to 60 years of age and is just looking for a fresh start. I had a long conversation with him and he has openly told me everything up front. 

If i require 2 months of security deposit than the ordinary one month deposit, is it a good idea to give a one year lease or due to the facts that i mentioned above, am I taking too much of a risk? 

Note: he did foreclose on his house and also stopped paying his cc payments. He is starting to improve his credit now and has 2 credit cards that he is paying off every month. 

[Scott England]

Siraj,

I typically have pretty tight credit standards for my A and even B properties, but I usually make exceptions for those with similar housing issues you mentioned above.  The reason is that, assuming that is their only credit issue, they probably won't be moving or buying a house for a while.  I've had some good success getting these people to stay for years.  It's a risk, though, obviously and the CC payment issue would concern me.  2 months security deposit and last months rent would definitely be warranted.