screening poor tenant pool

[Brett Hearn]

Hi all,

So I guess I'm just looking for some general advice.  I'm am currently screening tenants on my second rental property.  I think I had a bit of beginners luck on the first one because they are great and it went so smooth.  On this one not so much.  The property is a 2 bed 1 bath that is about 700sqft.  I have had a lot of inquires but the tenant pool has been, well, less than par.  I'm looking for the standard qualifications: 2 1/2 times the rent with verifiable income, 600 credit, no felonies, evictions.

The neighborhood is a C to C-.  I have gotten a few really good ones but have been thrown off for one reason or another.  The neighborhood, "the house is great but we don't like the neighborhood"or "I'm not comfortable that there is no front fence" ,"the unit is too small", or they don't even come close to qualifications and I don't really want to go down the section 8 route, but I'm starting to reconsider. 

I have must have spoken to at least 35-40 people on the phone to pre-screen and even gotten deposits from people just to have them back out at the last min.

Needless to say, I am getting frustrated and fearful, as it has been about 2 months since I finished the rehab.  I have even gone down in price, telling them we would cut them a break, and that didn't fly even though, after looking on craigslist we are still, really, one of the cheapest in the town.

I am willing to go down in price but it seems like with the tenant pool I will be getting more of the same if not worse.  Should we lower our standards more?  I am ok with waiting longer for the right people because what choice do I really have?  I am planning on refinancing

out of the Hard money loan that I have on the property in about a month and want to get it paying so we can get a better appraisal but I just don't know what else to do other than be patient.  What would you guys do?  Any advice would be great and thank you in advance.

[Caleb Heimsoth]

@Brett Hearn I would lower credit score requirement to around 525 or 550 and up income requirement to 3X rent. Low credit score usually isn’t an issue if they don’t have evictions or criminal record and good landlord references. People are consistent. If they paid their old landlord on time they’ll likely pay you on time. Regardless of credit score