All Forum Posts by: Stephanie C.

Thanks for all of the feedback-- the cashiers check is a good idea. Given that we are meeting in the middle of the day, that should be doable for them to obtain a cashier's check before close of business should they choose to sign. I will leave cozy as an option for later rent payments. Thanks also for all of your timely responses, this puts my mind a bit more at ease.

I am meeting with two potential tenants tomorrow with the intent that they will sign a lease for our property (that they found using Cozy). I am not sure if I should go ahead and invite them to pay the deposit and first month's rent through Cozy tonight(seems presumptuous to me since they have only seen a video tour and they are flying in from out of town to view it in person tomorrow). I am a new landlord (managing my Dad's rental as his Rental POA), and have only ever accepted a check for first month's rent and deposit at the time of contract signing(signed my first tenant for this property last year). Cozy asks to put in the date that the rent and deposit are due, so I'm not even sure if I should put in tomorrow's date(when we are meeting with the intent to sign a lease) or October 1st ( the beginning of the lease)? I am happy to sign them a few days early as long as they are paid up-- but will this delay their payment if I make the due date October 1st or can they just pay early tomorrow? I would set up the account tomorrow after they agree to sign, but entering in all the of the check routing info in front of them through my smart phone after they agree to sign a lease seems unwise.

I guess I am wondering if anyone has used Cozy to collect deposit and first month's rent and how that coordinated with the lease signing/handing over of keys?

Thanks in advance for your help.

Thanks for your reply, Jeff. We also have rental criteria that we follow ( and share with all applicants), and in the past I have made an exception for a renter not meeting ONE of the criteria (bad credit). However, in that case, as you suggested, I also required first and last month's rent in addition to the deposit, and the renter had lots of money in savings. 

With the current applicant, however, since they have bad credit, no savings, a past criminal record (many years ago) and a recent eviction due to not being able to work (and thus not being able to pay the rent), I ended up issuing an adverse action denying their application today( It was just too many things against them for me to feel comfortable renting to them). I also felt that asking for a double deposit PLUS first and last month's rent would be cruel, since I know that they don't have the savings. I also received another application ( the same day) where the tenant met all of the rental criteria, so I accepted them instead.

Now the denied applicants are emailing, texting, calling trying to figure out "what went wrong". My instinct is to let the form letter speak for itself and not reply with more details. However, doing so seems cold. Would you advise ceasing communication at this point?

Thanks for your response, Patti. My understanding is this applicant now makes too much money (with the new job) to qualify for section 8. According to their current landlord they pay $1145 per month rent currently (rent at this property is $1300). They want to move into a home, and out of the "hood" (their words). Like you, though, I am also concerned that their lack of savings will prove problematic when renting a home (as opposed to an apartment).

Someone suggested requiring them to pay 6 months rent up front due to the past evictions, criminal record (over 15 years ago) and low credit score. Again, I would have to follow this policy for all renters as well. Does asking for rent up front make sense in cases like this (where I want to help and not flat out reject the applicant)?

I am managing my family's rental property and have been receiving applications for about two weeks. We have rental criteria that applies to every applicant, and so far only one has come close to meeting all of the criteria. This individual is a single parent, who within the last year has taken a full time job at a hospital. This applicant has children (high school and one over 18) who will be living at this home along with a grandmother. Each applicant over 18 has submitted an application, background check, etc... and combined their debt to income ratio meets our requirements (their credit scores are low because they don't have any open credit lines, and don't want any cards). 

My question is this: They haven't paid rent all on their own before (they previously qualified for section 8 status). However, now this individual plans to one day own their own home, and is planning to work towards that goal by paying rent without the aid of section 8. Should I be worried that they will not be able to pay the rent? I want to give this person a chance.
The cons I see are: this individual has no savings, the individual's mother has an open court case that is being settled (she is not at fault) due to a car accident and ongoing medicals bills, they have one past eviction due to the accident preventing them from working for three months(they were asked to leave). They have a lawyer letter detailing that the case should be resolved in their favor.

This seems complicated, but with this property we don't typically receive applicants with a squeaky clean record. Thanks in advance for any insight.