All Forum Posts by: Thomas Phu

Hello Biggerpockets community!

I have a question about the Rental Application process and my situation:

I have an application with two individual that agreed to both mutually divorce and they have 2 kids. They are still friendly and support of each other and they went to the apartment showing together but the husband will be living separate from the family. They are in the closing process of selling their house and will profit from it and the money will go into housing for the mom and the 2 kids. They seem like decent and nice people!

The rent is $2150/month and the mom makes only 20-30k/ year and the husband (Guarantor) that makes 125k/year. The ex-husband does meet the minimum criteria for the rental application, however the mother does not. In this situation should I accept the ex-husband as the guarantor and screen him normally like the rest of the applicants? What should I look out for? what is the best way to handle this situation?

note: they do have enough money to cover the first, last, and security deposit

@Filipe Pereira Hey Filipe, I really appreciate you for looking out and mentioning that. I definitely am aware of the fact that in the state of MA, landlords can't charge an application fee. I have been telling my applicants that I do not charge for application fee and I tell them upfront + on listing + on prescreening interview that I require to do a background/credit check and that will require a fee and that is sent to them and they can wish to proceed if they still desire to.

Please let me know what you think, and what you think I should do going forward. Thanks so much

I just found out Massachusetts does not allow screening services to pull criminal data, we have to manually go to the police department to obtain such information.

@Sam Horton Hey Sam, I wanted to use Rentredi but my applicants were applying through paper applications and Rentredi didn't have the option to send applicants just a screening request. So I would have to make the applicants reapply through Rentredi inorder to process the screening. 

Also, I researched on https://masslandlords.net/tena... for which screening service checks off all the boxes for the state of MA and saw that TransUnion didn't include the MA criminal check, In which is the screening service Rentredi uses. Zumper is lacking in that as well, based on what Masslandlord article stated.

Please let me know if I wrong with any of this info, keep me honest!

@Brad Hammond Hey Brad, thanks so much for your response and advice! I have been looking into Cozy screening service and I am currently using Rentredi and I was wondering for Cozy does it require the applicant to apply through Cozy (because i used Paper applications) first or can I send an invitation to Screen for their background/Credit?

Thank you for the rule of thumb advice on credit screening because i was actually wondering about that as well. 

Good Morning Everyone!

I am currently stuck on the Screening process when I am reviewing applications.

I am having a hard time trying to find a good tenant screening service that works best for Massachusetts and is fairly cost-effective. So, it doesn't hurt as much when they are rejected.

Also, if the applicant provides me a copy of their recent credit report from CreditKarma or such, I'm wondering if I still need to do a credit screening on the applicant, .

Does any one have any recommendation and/or advice for a Tenant screening service or process they use? Any help would be greatly appreciated! Thank you!!

Good Morning Everyone!

I am currently stuck on the Screening process when I am reviewing applications. 

I am having a hard time trying to find a good tenant screening service that works best for Massachusetts and is fairly cost-effective. So, it doesn't hurt as much when they are rejected. 

Also, if the applicant provides me a copy of their recent credit report from CreditKarma or such, I'm wondering if I still need to do a credit screening on the applicant, . 

Does any one have any recommendation and/or advice for a Tenant screening service or process they use? Any help would be greatly appreciated! Thank you!!

Wow thank you for your insight! Love to hear that!  My goal is to spruce it up with cosmetic Renos to make it look nicee and modernize as soon as I close on the property. I actually am around in neighborhood in Braintree. Where did u move to?!

Hello Everyone!

I'm in the process of buying a duplex in Whitman, Massachusetts right now! I am having a hard time trying to determine what the market rents would be for a 3bd/1bath apartment and a 4bd/2bath would be in the area? 

I'm seeing numbers ranging from, but nothing specific:
$1800-2000 for 3bds/1bath 
$2000-2800 for 4bd/2bath

I'm going to be doing cosmetic renovations to the units to spruce it up and modernize a bit. So the conditions will be in decent shape. any insight/knowledge would really help! Thanks so much everyone

@Aaron Montague hey thanks again, as soon I read ur statement I hop into research n I'm gonna open a business checking account with a local bank near me n open those accounts.

@AliceSun Norman wow I’m jealous that’s an amazing rate! I finalized the loan with a conventional owner occupant 10% down and a really low rate as well! So that left me with extra cash for when n if the market dips.