All Forum Posts by: Troy Fisher

Hi @Troy Fisher! It's been a while, my friend. Oh... my new favorite piece of legislation. We've always used standard screening criteria and processed applications in the order received, but as @Patrick M. says above, it's the wait time forcing the wheels to turn slower that are killing us, and it's equally unfair to renters.  72 hours for additional information (like adding a co-signer/guarantor if we discover someone has no credit - like a college student), and 48 hours for them to accept an approval. This serves that first applicant well, but we have:

• Multiple applicants for each vacancy, who can be left waiting a week or longer to learn if their applications will even be processed
• Applicants applying for multiple properties, and tying up units they may have little intention of inhabiting as backups, now that they have this time buffer
• Landlords with increasing vacancy costs. Dragging the vacancy out means rent income lost, and frankly, units that could be used to house people sitting empty.

 I'm on the receiving end of a lot of frustrated people just wanting a place to live, and small landlords who operate on slim margins and are eyeing record-high sales prices as an out. If you're in Seattle, contact your Seattle City Councilmember responsible for this terrible piece of legislation which somehow manages to work against both renters and landlords.

To answer your specific question, Troy, we have screening criteria that sets the bar high, but is not exclusive based on a credit score number.  For some properties we do accept co-signers or slightly lower credit scores.  We exclude things like "consistent patterns of delinquency," instead of "credit scores below 700." Just a note that in light of this newest legislation, we've also added the screening criteria "applicant must be willing to take possession within 2 weeks of approval" because the SMC is so poorly written that the first applicant could want possession 3 months from now, and what's stopping them.  

Are you implying that you bought this house without getting a home inspection? I would hire a experienced home inspector to do the inspection and provide a report. Best left to Pros

@Troy Fisher Credit scores don't mean anything, and a landlord should look at the overall credit report and when you used Trans Union, you will miss a lot of data.

@Troy Fisher

Perhaps I am more educated than other investors, but I know which electrical panels need to get swapped out and which do not. I know you're just using that as an example. Also, I am glad I don't live near you because a panel swap doesn't cost me anywhere near $3500 :) 

While as some have suggested, I could simply raise my rental criteria to credit score of 700 and 3x monthly rent, at times this could make it challenging for me to find a tenant, even at a break-even level with my mortgage payment.  I am really unclear if this legislation allows me to state my criteria in advance (as above), but then make an exception for, say, a 650 credit score if I don't have a candidate who fully fits the criteria.  Would the person with the 400 credit score potentially win a judgment against me because I accepted the higher (but not fully qualifying) score if the 400 applied first?  Extrapolate the simple credit score example to other circumstances.  I have never gotten a clear answer on this one, so I hope the lawsuit against the city is acceptable.

@Justin B. Can you make one of your qualifying criteria that you are a better applicant than all the others??