Renting to someone with cash but no credit history

[Walt Dockery]

I am showing my first rental property to rent.  I had a family come by that seems like they would be a good fit, they are interested, filled out an app and are ready to move in soon - only problem is they recently moved here from out of the country.    So they told me they have basically no credit history here.  They indicated they have assets however, and the husband indicated he could, say, pay 6 mos rent up front.  Would be a 12-month lease.  I have not run credit/backrgound yet but will shortly via mysmartmove, they told me about the lack of credit history up front.

Am I missing something, i.e. am I crazy to consider to rent to this tenant given their ability to pay several months up front?  I have had the opposite problem with many other applicants, i.e. people who claim high income on the application but can't front move-in costs of first month, last month, and security deposit.  I am big on the idea of financial independence and generally hold the belief that assets trump income and potentially lack of credit.

As part of the check process, should I ask to see bank statements or a proof of funds letter from a bank, in addition to the smartmove check?

[Walt Dockery]

To update this, I did not end up renting to this applicant.  Upon turning in his application, issues were a lot more than lack of credit history - lack of employment, no landlord or employer references etc.

On the issue of prepayment, according to my attorney there is advantage to prepayment and certainly is no greater risk to a tenant breaking a lease than if they didn't prepay.  So this fear that he would "move in and demand money back" does not seem a rational one, at least where I am (that's not to say I'd rent to someone unqualified, but prepayment certainly does not seem to me a negative).  My attorney also had the advice that if I were to accept prepayment, make it for the last x months of the lease rather than the first, i.e. if he wants to prepay 6 months rent that's great, that applies to months 7-12 on a 12-month lease and rent would be due on the first of the month for the first 6 months as normal.  

Ended up renting to a well qualified tenant who moved in last week.  I had a lot of interest in the property, so was able to be picky w/ a few strong applications coming in after starting the thread and in the end did not bend on my application requirements.  

Was it a waste of my time?  No, not really, at least no more so than the rest of this process has been, I know a little about how prepayment works, how I would handle it if it were to come up in the future.