All Forum Posts by: Alvin Sylvain

OK, for some of you long-term landlords this is probably an easy one.

I looked at the applicants' pay-stubs and SSI letter, and pro forma, with two jobs, overtime, and SSI, they do make 3x the rent.

My main question is, the numbers I calculate and the numbers they put on the application do not agree. Which by itself wouldn't worry me greatly as the overtime obviously varies from month to month. But in stating the SSI income the application, they put roughly $1000 more than what the SSI letter said. That number at least ought to agree as there is no variability.

Didn't they even read the letter when they provided it with the application?

So do I chalk this up to simple mistakes or assume they are attempting to misrepresent themselves?

And more to the point, as I'm leaning towards rejection anyway, what do I put on the rejection letter? I don't see online any examples where the application was rejected because the stated numbers didn't match the proof provided.

@Gustavo Alvarez

We've been going Zillow/Apartments for about a month now, and we also are getting most inquiries from Zillow.

Have you heard about TransUnion announcing their data breach a few days ago? They been hacked.

This affects everybody, and it especially affects you if you're using Zillow for Tenant Screening, because as I understand it, they use TransUnion.

I was considering using Zillow for tenant screening, or going to TransUnion directly, as they have more in-depth credit reports available for additional fees. I could be wrong, but I believe Zillow does not offer that through their service. Now I'm more on the fence about either one of them.

Thoughts?

I'd start sooner.

Never mind having $150k or whatever. If that's the intermediate goal, I could have saved that much by starting saving a good chunk of my income every month. I'd have far more than that decades ago.

My advice to youngsters. Don't wait for the perfect opportunity. The best opportunity is the one that presents itself now, and you make do, flaws and all.

You know what ... and I'm probably going to get in trouble for saying this ... but if I can not vet a prospective tenant because they have no documentation of their identity or credit history, be that a SSN, ITIN, Passport, or a signed and notarized letter from the Governor, and there is no other prospect on the horizon who does ... I'll leave the place stay vacant. "Sorry, no longer available."

Surely you can have verifiable documentation of identity be one of your application criteria, used uniformly across the board, like minimum credit score and sufficient income?

Yes, leaving it vacant is an expensive option, but so is renting to someone who turns out to be crooked.

In California with community property, all she needs to do is sign off on the deed when she sells. As community property. her exclusive ownership automatically survives. She may want to get an agent in any event to make sure all the T's are dotted and the I's are crossed, which usually should be done whether or not all parties are still around. Also remember, this is not legal advice as I am not a lawyer.

Quote from @Sherief Elbassuoni:

@Sam Yi, you will need to do the analysis and see if it makes sense to add the sq ft or not. 

For example, if adding the sq ft will cost you $80K, and comps only $50K more, it doesnot make sense to add the sq ft

I agree 100% the analysis must be done before making a decision. However, I think it can be far more complex than simply cost vs value.

For example, if you're doing Buy and Hold, and it cost you $80k for only $50K more in comped value, what about rent? How much more rent will that improvement allow you to charge? Then there's appreciation. Sure, you only get $50K value today, but how much value will it have in five years?

But definitely work the numbers. Always work the numbers.

Quote from @Joe Splitrock:

Quote from @Yvonne H.:

I get a lot of applicants, escpecially from Zillow, that for any number of reasons--be it income, background, credit, whatever--they don't qualify. What do you tell your applicants when they don't qualify?

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"Your application cannot be approved at this time due to one or more factors including credit history, income, references, bankruptcy, background, etc."

If they respond back, just tell them the decision is final and that is all the information you can provide.

OK, let me just add a quick spin to this. Zillow again.

I get a few "inquiries" for the rental, but sometimes the person filled out something or another on Zillow, which will then include some of that information along with the inquiry. So I get an inquiry, and Zillow already tells me their credit is too low, or their income is too low, or whatever.

And they haven't applied yet, so there is no background check that could be included in a list of "it might be this or it might be that". The credit score might be the only thing Zillow knows. If I reject the inquiry based on that, they're probably going to know there is only one possibility.

Just wondering what the best wording would be, considering there is no application just yet. Somehow, "Your inquiry cannot be approved" or "Don't bother" just doesn't sound right.

Thanks!

Quote from @Joe Splitrock:

I like Zillow better than Apartments.com for lease signing because Zillow lets you upload your own lease.

OK, this maybe is something that might have changed in the last year since this was originally posted, but I believe Apartments.com now lets you upload your own lease also.

Quote from @Ashley Chris:

Hi Tracey,

I was in your situation few months back. I was on cozy and got migrated to apartments.com

I listed my house on both, but got good response on zillow (and free ad on apartments.com got close to zero response, while I got about 1000 views and 40 emails in 2 weeks on zillow).

But all my payments and lease signing, I opted to go with apartments.com because their customer support was really good (I called them thrice and they navigated me through tenant on-boarding). I also maintain my expense records on apartments.com - overall I liked it

I plan to use both zillow (for listing) and apartments.com (for tenant engagement), in future

OK, this is exactly what my question was, I thank you for answering it! Thumbs up!