Property Manager · Edmond, OK · Member since 2014 · 1 post · 0 votes
Possible tenant has a poor credit history but has good rental history. My property needs to be rented. And no one else is looking at it. Should I rent to this person?
Totally depends on the situation. So much of the time, bad credit is why someone is renting in the first place. I weight great rental history and employment history much higher than credit. A lot of times it is due to divorce, foreclosure, etc. You may also be able to up the security deposit for insurance, depending on what your state laws are.
Totally depends on the situation. So much of the time, bad credit is why someone is renting in the first place. I weight great rental history and employment history much higher than credit. A lot of times it is due to divorce, foreclosure, etc. You may also be able to up the security deposit for insurance, depending on what your state laws are.
I have rented to many tenants with bad credit. Some have been among my best tenants. They were upfront about their situation, claimed they were trying to turn things around, and actually did. As long as they have the income (and income stability) and haven't had any history of landlord/tenant court cases, bad credit will not rule them out.
Make sure their story matches their credit. Divorce? You should see the joint accounts that are jammed up, BK? how long ago, was it cleared, what amounts, etc. Are they missing a bunch of pyments in a group but then went back to paying fine? Well, if the missed payments match up with a job loss then you can figure that out.
If they give you a legitimate sounding story that matches the credit history, they very well might have just got caught up on tought times but can be perfectly good tenants.
The things you really want to watch out for is: flakiness, lying, lack of commitment.
A good percentage of my tenants have bad credit for various reasons. Like @Jonna Weber, I'm much more concerned that they've paid their rent on time and haven't had any judgments from landlords. That shows they consider rent a priority. If they were a homeowner and it was a divorce situation, I would get extra security deposit money if allowed.
I just approved a tenant who makes $136K, has a high level security gov't job, and owned a home. He's going through a divorce but has been renting with a clean history for over a year and a half. He said his credit is a mess now but I approved him anyway. Just hoping the condo association will ;)
How do you know that he has a good rental history?.. past landlords like to pass those jewels on.. I would really dig into that history. I do have several renters with bad credit due to huge medical bills with a very sick child and job loss. If you aren't getting calls why not? rewrite the listing, take new photos, stage the house a bit when taking images. Where are you marketing the house? zillow? craigs list? Facebook? I have built up my Facebook and keep that active and rentals are now built on referrals.. takes awhile. $50 paid for referral on a signed lease.