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General Landlording & Rental Properties

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Stephen E.
  • St Thomas, Ontario
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Interesting Screening Situation

Stephen E.
  • St Thomas, Ontario
Posted Nov 21 2014, 14:14

Some of the posts I find most interesting on BP are screening questions. One of the reasons they are interesting is that the landlord posting the question is often too close to the issue and does not see problems while a dispassionate observer can. So here are my current applicants. I have two 24 year olds who are engaged; they have only lived in their parents' home before, so no landlord's references. One has two years experience as a programmer for a university, the other worked for eight years as a staff supervisor in a drug store. I can't get a response from the university; the drug store describe their former employee in glowing terms, say he is mature and responsible and that they would hire him back in a heartbeat. They earn approximately $80,000 in total; rent is $1,200 a month, so rent is handily 3 x income. However they have just both started new jobs at the same company, one as a program developer and the other on the IT Helpdesk. They have both been in these new jobs for one month.

On their credit check both of them have just one item: they each have one credit card in their individual names and with different issuers. They both have the same credit limit $3,000 and seem to carry a balance of a few hundred dollars suggesting they pay in full each month. All bills have been paid on time and are R1. Their credit scores are in the mid 800s, which in a way is a bit of an indictment of credit score methodology - they only have one credit item, and not much history to go on. That and the very recent jobs plus lack of landlord references makes me a bit wary. In terms of personal appearance they seem like fairly mature individuals, consistent with the employer description. Both are university graduates. I managed to reach one of two personal references given and the referee, a medical doctor, had known one of them for twenty years and described them as very mature and responsible.

So here is what I am minded to do: approve but ask for each of them to provide a parental guarantor so I have two parents on the line. A slightly easier approach would be to have only one parent act as guarantor but what if one of them left the unit, leaving the other behind? Each having a relative on board seems to reduce downside risk.

So BP, what would you do? Approve, reject, approve with guarantor? It is an interesting question. I wish I had an applicant with long term, stable employment, landlord references, well developed credit and more experience in life. But I don't, I have these applicants. Everyone's got to start somewhere and everyone has to find a first apartment. But I would like to know what a few other landlords make of this one.

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