BiggerPockets

I have a couple who are very imotivated in renting my property. The husband just get promoted and need to relocate to our area.They have stable income and most of things looked right. However, they just filed bankrupcy March 2011.
Should I consider them or absolutly no.
Thanks very much for any of your suggestion!

Thanks vey much, Nate.

I would agree with Nate and...Be upfront and maybe ask them about it to find out their situation and tell them your concerns. Biggest thing is setting the expectations up front and letting them know you mean business, no bs.

I just had a couple who forclosed on their home who is now renting my property...I found out he lost his job got behind on house, tried to modify but bank didn't go for it...he now found better job, hasn't been late on rent, is going above and beyond making this property look nice.

Lay the groundwork and expectations up front...

My best renter is a person who filed BK. I have had him over 2 years and has never been late. He does all the minor repairs himself, and take great care of the property.
He had to file BK due to his loan being a recourse loan and he went into foreclosure.
He wanted a place that he could treat as his 'own' and I have 0 issues with him.
That said I would look at why they filed BK and see if it passes the sniff test.

Its getting harder and harder to tell good tenants by foreclosure and bankruptcy history. You have to dig a little deeper than a credit score. There are other indicators if you know what questions to ask and what to look for. I personally like short answers to tough questions, with eye contact. that tells me a lot.

Actually the ones with a discharged bankruptcy are some of the best because they have almost zero debt and can more easily pay the rent.

The ones you have to watch out for are the ones carrying a ton of debt barely treading water.One little thing goes wrong and and it will all fall like a ton of bricks.

Now if they habitually filed bankruptcy that might say something.You can look up bankruptcies and history of people online using the national system.

If they have little to no money for a deposit ,bad credit,and want to move in on the weekend and say they love the place without asking questions..........RUN

One thing to keep in mind, under the Code once you file BK and have debts discharged you are prohibited from filing BK again (assuming it was a Ch 7) for 8 years. This is why credit card companies are so willing to lend to a discharged debtor. Your bet is safer because the threat of a discharge is gone.

If you have someone who recently filed a BK and have the income to support the rent then I would think they would be a good tenant. I would not let the BK aspect influence me (assuming everything else checks out). A decent place to live with a fair rental value is very valuable to them because they wont be getting a mortgage anytime soon given the BK filing.

While I agree with some of the posts above, BK filers, especially serial BK filers, definitely know the system. I would check PACER to see their BK filing history as part of your regular credit check.

I think everything comes from the gut on this one...yes, you can verify some things but a fifteen minute discussion about what happened can do more to help you make the decision. I leary of people that bame everything on everyone esle. there are reason that are legit; death, ilness, accidents with injury etc., etc....but it can be hard to seperate fact from fiction.