I rejected applicant, he said he would pay $150 extra/month

[Sunny Burns]

First time landlord here. We just started advertising our rental 3 weeks ago. $1675/month for a 3 bedroom in Garfield NJ. We've gotten a lot of interest, 30 different groups of visitors, of those 8 applicants...

We wanted to make a decision today, we are leaning towards one applicant. So when another applicant called to see if there was any updates on his application status, I told him we were going to go with someone else. He called back to say that he was willing to pay an extra $150/month... not sure what to do at this point. He is a single Divorced Man, good job at a big company, away on business a lot. He gave us his W2, and it shows he makes $150,000/year. His Credit is shot however, he says due to his recent divorce, his Ex-wife took his house and everything. He has four kids and has them for two weekends a month, so he wanted a 3 bedroom so he could have his kids have some space when they are over. *He has yet to submit his credit report or background check, both of which we are requiring.

Our other applicant we are considering is a nice family with three daughters, they are very focused on their education. The parents run their own bodyshop, so its hard to verify income, they claimed they made $50k on their 2014 Tax Return, which would meet our requirements. Their credit however is on the low end. We wanted an average of 640 or above, and the Wife meets it but the Husband does not, he says its because of identity theft.

Thoughts, what would you choose?

Here is a link to the ad if interested https://home.cozy.co/apply/#/47395

[Patrick L.]

First you cannot take family status into consideration when reviewing applicants so I'll go ahead and ignore most of your information.  

If one has VERIFIABLE INCOME OF $150K Yr and the other "says" they are self employed and make around $50k why are you even learning towards the one that makes a third as much?   A good rule of thumb for minimum income is 3x the monthly rent amount, your $50k/yr tenants fall short of that amount.   I'd verify his income and credit and if that checks out I'd take his increased rent amount and collect first last and security (as long as it's legal in your jurisdiction, it is here).   

Run your own credit and background checks, asking a tenant to submit those items is odd.  Stop going off what tenants tell you, verify everything yourself.   Believing what people tell you when they're trying to rent a place will get you in a world of trouble.