Tenant wants to pay for year up front

[Greg Blasso]

Hello everyone,

My name is Greg from NY. This is my first post but I have been a long time reader of the forums.

I am looking for my first tenant as I am renting out my condo to move across the county. The first tenant I received an application from wants to pay for the full year up front as they do have income on the books. There are two applicants (boyfriend and girlfriend) one applicant is a nanny and claims to make $1000 cash per week to watch three children Monday through Friday. The other applicant is a self employed photographer who made 25k in 2015. I ran background and credit checks. No criminal backgrounds and no evictions. Credit scores are high 600 and low 600 respectively. Both have minimal credit. Also, their two references are their best friends. I do plan on contacting their current landlords and employers to get some additional info on them.

Can someone please give me an idea how to proceed. A year rent up front sounds great but also too good to be true so I am extremely hesitant.

Thanks in advance.

[Max T.]

have them set up an escrow account and collect payments monthly.