All Forum Posts by: Bienes Raices

@John Rooster

Thanks, that's what I'm going to try. Better to get a little less rent than to have this sit vacant through the holidays.

@Fred Ruckus

If they give you an app on Friday afternoon then it's probably going to take a minimum of 2 days to get in touch with their employer (unless you're one of those who accepts paystubs as proof of employment--I would not do that). So if they get impatient tell them they only have their own employer to blame.

Here are the prescreening questions I was taught to use by a successful local landlord. Asking these will save you a lot of time and gas money:

1) What is your move date?

2) How many people would live in the unit?

3) What pets do you have?

4) Does each adult applicant from your group have a FICO of at least 600?

5) Reiterate your minimum income requirement to them (should already be in your online ad, but many won't remember because they've been looking at dozens of ads).

@Account Closed

There is nothing illegal about what Kyle is doing.

@Aron Rogerson

Thanks--I am pretty close to my "floor" right now (I don't think the place is overpriced at all, based on what I've seen on craigs in the same zip, same size of house.

@Chris Adams

I see what you're saying but there's the matter of spending too much time on these people. I suppose you could ask them a lot of pointed questions on the phone about debt to income ratio, collections, etc., but they may not know the answers to those things--but they usually know their score. If I get 20 calls from people who tell me that their score is lower than 600, I'd rather weed out that entire group on the phone than spend time meeting all of them to find the 1 person out of the 20 (who may decide they don't want the rental anyway, or not show up for appointment) may be a decent tenant. Why not concentrate on getting the quality tenants instead?

@Chris Adams

I see what you mean but sometimes even if they are honest and nice as pie while applying, after you give them their second chance and they move in the mask comes off and the real personality starts to show.

Maybe it's different in other parts of the country, but the people I encounter here with bad credit are rarely people who had a temporary bump in the road. I think I've gotten one applicant ever whose bad credit was caused by a foreclosure.

Yes, I cut it off at 600. (I also have other things I look for like no more than 4 collections, no money owed to prop. mgmt, etc.).

When they call about the rental I tell them I don't take anyone with a score lower than 600. I will be getting rid of a few decent tenants this way but I know from experience that 90-95% people with low scores will have serious items on the report and that score is well deserved. They are also likely to have unexplained gaps in the rental history and other issues once the application is filled out. I have also heard that the likelihood of a person having a criminal history correlates with the FICO score. I used to run myself ragged processing applications from all of these duds but I've found it saves a lot of time just to nip it in the bud during the initial phone conversation.

I never listen to any explanation from the applicant, I just go by the raw data. I had someone on the phone the other day tell me that he had a low score because "his account was hacked". OK, whatever dude. Take it up with the credit agency, not my problem.

I would never trust an agent to do the proper screening.

As for the credit, I keep hearing that score does not matter, but then why have virtually all of the problems I've had with renters (late pay, not following rules of lease) so far been with people with scores below 600?