What is your knee jerk reaction to these tenant applicants

Question

I have an elderly couple applying for my SFR. They provided too much info which I will share here. She is 62, he 70. She is retired from the postal service after 25 years, he is retired from Ford Motor after a 35 year career. They both have pensions. They lived in their last place for 10 years and claim to have taken great care of the place - landlord never raised the rent. He wanted to sell the place but they, (being victims of identity theft), could not qualify. She paid a rep to find them a new place and paid $500 - and got scammed and lost the money. Now they are living with family, their belongings in storage units. She said they are quite and good tenants and will care for the place as if its their own. And will take care of all maintenance items under $400. Big fixes they will call me to take care of. She called her self an old fashioned grandmother because she watches her grandkids and loves to spend time with them and have them over. Thought? Are these potentially model tenants or do you see issues?

I still need to do the background check and check references but they seem unique compared to the bulk of inquiries that I have. And so I'm wondering what others here think.

Colleen F. · Answer

This is all stuff you need to verify with your credit and background check. The identity theft can mean they are just trying to snow you to explain bad credit or it could be real. Identity theft is normally a person, although it could be a couple. Verify they have the income they say they have by bank statements, pay stubs, or tax returns. Verify the landlord is a real person who owns the house they say they lived in per tax rolls and that is who you are calling. Did it sell? Check out what is on the credit report and if it agrees with what they told you. Don't change how you manage repairs for them, she could be just trying to entice you never to go to the house because she will have 3 grandchildren living with her. She is doing all this to get you to pick them, I am not saying don't pick them only don't change your process to pick them.

Anthony Wick · Answer

@Katrina CabralNope. Pass. The more excuses applicants have, the more lies you’ll unfold. Why even bother with this headache?

David Stumpf · Answer

Seems like a pretty elaborate scheme for a couple of senior citizens collecting pensions. I would treat them like any other individual applying and see what comes up. Do they have any documentation of the identity theft? I doubt your dealing with Bonnie and Clyde here

Dennis M. · Answer

Trust but verify . Check out everything . Don’t just accept the stories

Jonathan W. · Answer

@Katrina Cabral ummm. I agree the more elaborate and the more stories the tenant has the more bull crap you are being fed but they both have pensions...they both have great wrk history. Government pension and is it a union pension? Either way they seem to have a good history behind them and very steady income. I have a very close friend who is amazing great with his income and etc but he was a victim of ID theft. It happens!!! Shouldn’t that leave one of them with good credit? The 500$ scam story is weird and yeah that raises red flags. Why did they feel they needed to hire such a person?I would do a credit and background check but because of their work history and pensions I am optimistic.

Jennifer Rysdam · Answer

I agree with @Dennis M. Verify all the info and then you'll know if it's true or not. I also would wonder about the grandkids part, but previous landlord can let you know if they wrecked the place or not.

Lynnette E. · Answer

BTW, one of my parent's elderly renters who had to move out after we were selling the house hired a company to find a house to rent. They just did not have the ability to drive around and look at places, or fill out applications. This company did charge them for credit checks and an application fee and did offer them several houses they managed. They only actually looked at 2 of the houses and choose the second one. For them it was very good to have this assistance.But for your applicant, either the company did not have much inventory, or the applicants did not qualify for much.The postal pension could be quite small, and that person would not get SS. The other pension may be small, but that person should get SS as well. They may not have a great income.

Lynnette E. · Answer

What everyone said above, but also look into the grandkid part. Exactly how many grandchildren will they have living in the house? How many will come to the house more than one day a week? How often do they sleep over? Any kids coming that are not grandkids? Will they be having an open day care in your house, relatives or not? A half dozen kids running wild will destroy your house! And increase your liability for accidents.That said, my grandma had 7 grandchildren and lived on the Colorado River. She had 2 or 3 grandkids everyday all Summer long. Boys waking up at dawn to go fishing in the river with grandpa, and the girls swimming and baking with grandma. Great memories, and active grandparenting. Grandkids were switched out each weekend. And check out the ages of those grandkids. The 70 year old, could have had kids at 20, the kids could have had kids at HIS 40, so these grandkids could be 30 year old do nothing kid-adults! Same for the 62 year old. You should know exactly who will be there and how often....name and ages of grandkids, their spouses/friend, their kids, etc.

John Teachout · Answer

Pretty sure if you start running paper on them (background, credit, etc) that their story is going to fall apart. For some reason, they're trying to sell you on them. Why would that be necessary? I clearly explain to potential tenants what the background check entails. I'm guessing it'll never get that far.

Katrina Cabral · Answer

@Anthony Wick and @Colleen F. Thank you!!