Which tenant application would you pick?
I'm in my mid 30s and I'm house hacking my way through this. Because I'm single, I've been buying houses, moving into one of the bedrooms and renting out the other rooms. I have 2 applicants interested in renting out the master bedroom:
Option A:
49 Yr old, taking a job transfer to Utah, Income is 15x rent. Owns his own house in the state he is moving from. Excellent Credit. No criminal history. Planning to live there for at least 3 months, probably going to move somewhere else after he's settled into the area a little bit. I haven't met him yet. He won't be here until he moves to Utah.
Option B:
27 Yr old, Self Employed, Income is 5X rent. Bad credit due to some medical bills (Willing to put down 2x the my standard deposit). Misdemeanor Attempted Aggravated Assault 2 years ago. Looking to live here for quite a while. He seems like a nice guy when I met him.
If Option A were going to stay a long time I think it would be a no brainer, pick A. But if he moves out in just a few months vs a tenant who's ready to stay a while I'm tempted to go the Option B route. What do you think?