It's discrimnatory to prefer a traditional family. Don't put that in writing. Nontraditional tenants are the fodder of cocktail party stories. :)
In addition to earlier questions:
How long have they lived at previous addresses? Have they lived in the area long?
Is their income verifiable? Stable?
Are they fussy/high maintenance? Anything interesting on social media?
Which applicant would you consider the primary/strongest applicant?
If the criteria is 620, they don't meet the criteria. If anyone has applied and been denied in this applicant cycle, don't change your criteria. Be very careful about updating standards mid stream, evaluate between application cycles.
@David Lee- can you get more detail on their credit histories ( and not just a vague reference on what score they dont have ...) ...ask prop mgt compnay for more credit details and make a decsion .....if he has a credit score of 480 - this is a lot diffrent than having a score of 619
@David Lee The only thing that would sway me in this is previous rental history and payment history. With this score he has some issue they should have mentioned. If he took a hit on medical bills, or another plausible issue reflected in the credit report I get that but would have expected them to mention it and I would expect to see good payment history on everything else. Did the manager share anything? I would also weigh negatively if the previous rental history is not together because one doesn't have enough income to cover the rent and guess who stays if they split. If it is a rental history together that history is good no problem, given a plausible reason for the score that you can live with. Did your relator turn them down or is it up to you, that is two different messages. If you have to use just the number, you need to turn them down.
Thank you Colleen
it depends, there's exception, if it's your own singe family house and they live with you, certain exception exist. You can "prefer".
For me I would ask their job first, if it's in real estate and they have double jobs I would accept even with lower score lol but again that's just me.
With this applicant I still have 61% bias to accept.
My number one unpublished criteria is the tenant has to work hard, no section 8 / gov program except it's handled by professional PM.
You hired the PM and chose a certain credit score criteria for a reason.. I’m assuming anyways. Stick with the requirements you have set and what your PM says, especially if other applicants have been declined for that reason.
1, the man who is in his 50's and make more money has lower credit score. The young lady just with one year working experience has the higher credit score.
2, it's hard to tell their father and daughter or in relationship, it's little bit weird. I prefer traditional family, married couple with kids
First - this is discriminatory not to mention not a good look to put this in writing. Second - why is his credit bad? A LOT of Americans have medical debt. There are too many questions unanswered in your post for me to give you advice, but head's up that you're looking at this a bit...backwards. Good luck.
@David Lee- can you get more detail on their credit histories ( and not just a vague reference on what score they dont have ...) ...ask prop mgt compnay for more credit details and make a decsion .....if he has a credit score of 480 - this is a lot diffrent than having a score of 619
Already rejected, but thank you for your advice
Good move.
Let's say you accepted them. What would your PM think? "Sheese, we said no but you're letting them anyway...so that we (the PM) will maintain them?"
When they said "No", leave it up to them. You delegated this professional task to them.
@David Lee you can have preferences as long as they’re not protected under fair housing laws. There’s a very specific set of criteria you can use to screen tenants. You can (and should) deny them because of the credit score. It’s better to go another month without a tenant then ending up with someone who isn’t paying.