Requesting help with screening our first tenant!

[Jim Peckey]

Hi BP,

As

rookie landlords, we've recently listed our first unit for rent @ $850 per month - an upper 1bed/1bath apt in a duplex that we owner occupy & currently live in the lower unit. We're hoping to get some feedback & guidance on the first couple that have applied for the unit, so we don't wind up making the mistake of renting to a couple that the Pros would take a hard pass on.

We've already made the rookie mistake of not pre-screening the first potential tenant before they viewed the unit, but we had the opportunity to talk with them while they viewed the unit & had them apply online via Cozy.co along with purchasing credit & background checks. We will be pre-screening future potential tenants via a Google Form, an idea we found here on the forums and have already put into action.

The potential tenants are a younger couple, are "very interested" in the unit, applied to our listing on Cozy within an hour of viewing the unit and each purchased the credit & background checks as well.

The couple currently live separately from one another and they're now looking for a place together.

Brief background on the girl:

- Non-smoker
- Monthly income meets the 3x rent requirement
- Background check looks clean (SSN Trace, Civil, Sex Offender, Global Watchlist, National - all are Clear)
- Credit score meets the 620 requirement
- Credit report looks okay with the majority of her lines of credit showing as current

Brief background on the guy:

- Non-smoker
- Currently unemployed due to the coronavirus situation
- Background check looks clean (SSN Trace, Civil, Sex Offender, Global Watchlist, National - all are Clear)
- Credit score does not meet the 620 requirement
- Credit report looks horrible (no lines of credit are current, and plenty are in collections)

Our thoughts & concerns at this point, and I'm trying to place weight on those where we should and lessen the weight where we shouldn't:

-The girl seems to be friendly & polite, her parent's live nearby, and her credit/background checks indicate that she's relatively financially responsible.

-The guy seems to be polite, but short and to the point. His lack of employment and horrid credit history would seem to paint him as financially reckless. This is worrisome and raises a red flag - if he can't pay his phone bill, we feel there is a higher chance of him not paying his rent (or renter's insurance for that matter).

-In the background and short of contacting previous landlords directly, I've been verifying the information the potential tenants have provided and I've identified discrepancies. The girl has listed previous addresses/landlords that are not listed in the Address History of her credit report. Additionally, the landlord she's mentioned for at least 1 of the properties does not line up with the owner of the property, as verified via county property record search - the property "owner" has the same last name as her, but the "landlord" has a completely differentname. Same with the guy, the previous addresses he's provided are not listed in the Address History of his credit report. I'm leery of this type of activity and potential tenants trying to pull a fast one by directing us to talk to a "friend" that's willing to lie for them
instead of the actual previous landlord.

-The girl does have a small cat, and is okay with an additional $25 a month in rent. While she didn't disclose this up front despite having "small pets negotiable" on our listing, she did answer the question whenI asked her directly after applying. I'd prefer the interested party to disclose that info up front and during the application process, but I don't want to discount her for me not doing a proper pre-screening before they even visited the property.

-We're concerned that the girl is the only one bringing in an income, has monthly expenses and barely meets the 3x monthly rent - compounded by the coronavirus situation, we'd prefer both were actively working and had at least 1 source of income if the other was laid off.

- Lastly, my gut is telling me to pass on the couple (primarily due to the guy) and wait for a better tenant.

That about sums up the information we have on them to date. Any questions, insight and/or guidance is always appreciated!

Thank you kindly in advance and we hope everyone is having a great holiday weekend!


Jim Peckey