Your opinion: would you rent to this tenant

[Aleksey F.]

Hi all !

While I have already denied the tenant, once in a while I run into a situation like this and wonder would someone else have done something different...

This was an REO duplex and I inherited tenants on one side and renovated the other unoccupied side. The existing tenants would not pass my criteria of 3x the monthly rent , 600 credit score, no evictions / credit history since they do not have any credit history / credit cards etc. But they are working out good. They are a retired couple and pay cash on time and lived there for 10 years.

Their adult daughter reached out looking to rent the renovated side. Her income is right under 3x the monthly rent requirement but does have a steady job in a dental office. Her credit score is 500 and is way under the requirement & has a long history of credit card bills being 30-60-90 days late. Additionally during the walk through she mentioned car engine trouble and obviously it was expensive and stressing her out.

So this was fairly easy denial - I do not want potentially late rent and to put someone in position where they are in over their head. I did not offer any compensating factors like a cosigner or double the security deposit. But she really wanted to live there next to parents who vouch for her and they also say she has voluntary child support from the father of her kids. And if she did meet the requirements it would be ideal tenants who would live there for a long time imo.

So thanks for reading and let me know what you would do ?

-Alex