Rental - Roomate Applicatants

[Michelle Elsaid]

I am trying to find renters for a duplex in Orlando FL and having a hard time finding someone who meets criteria of a credit score >660 and income 3X rent ($45k/yr). Do you accept roomates who (together) meet the income requirement? Both would be on lease.

Michelle

[Kristina Heimstaedt]

@Michelle Elsaid In Newport Beach everything is pretty expensive and we end up with many room mate situations. As long as they can jointly qualify, you should be fine. The additives that we've used that have made the entire process smoother are the following:

1. Rent is to be paid in a single payment every month. You don't want to get money from one, but not the other and then try to figure out how to apply a late fee. If you can make roommates police each other, it is significantly easier to manage especially for accounting.

2. I also require that all communication must be in group format, which is typically via texting. I once had a couple living together, but I was communicating with the boyfriend for the majority of their residency. We had some complications at renewal and considered not renewing their lease. The boyfriend was not handling himself well and it was getting a little ugly. When the girlfriend found out how her boyfriend was behaving and what he was saying, she was completely disgusted. 

I also had another situation where one roommate said that I said that his girlfriend could move in. I had not had such a conversation and as a result, he and his girlfriend ended up moving and getting their own place and the remaining tenants found a replacement and my vacancy remained at zero.

I'm personally a huge fan of renting to roommates because it is very rare that all want to move out at the same time and instead they typically just replace the one that moved out. It's a great way to have low vacancy.