Hi, Here is a copy of an email I received from a possible tenant. @Brandon Turner am I being too strict?

You're screening standards are working perfectly, they have successfully screened out one bad tenant...

We now have roughly 200 people living under our roofs. What I have learned is do not let their financial decisions effect your stress levels. Pick your criteria, stick with it. In the long run its so worth the wait to find a qualified tenant. If I had to pick one factor that predicted the tenants quality it would be credit score. Not always but most of the time the better the credit score the easier on all aspects. here are our minimums that we list in the ad. Minimum Requirements: •Monthly gross income at least 3 times the monthly rent (>$2,175 income per month). •NO convicted felonies •NO sex offenders •Minimum credit score of 600 (check yours for free at creditkarma.com) •NO previous evictions •Sorry, we DO NOT accept SECTION 8.

creditkarma says I'm a 750. My monthly discover card FICO credit report says I'm an 810. Just to give comparison between creditkarma and a banks credit report pull. To the OP, that email is just evidence that your screening methods work. For her to give you an attitude like that over your ad is just proof you don't want her. Keep your standards high or it will cost you more in the long run.

3 times the rent is basically the norm . BUT you want to SEE their credit report . had a guy wanting to rent my $1200 a month 2 bedroom .He made $ 4500 a month and had a 700 credit score . but he had a $ 1500 a month truck payment , a $ 550 month bike payment , child support of $ 1200 . and $ 590 . Didnt look bad till I added it up then added the rent and he was over 5 thousand in bills a month . This wasnt taking into consideration , car insurance , electric bill , food , and gasoline . I had to deny him .

"Too strict" and "Tenant Screening" don't belong in the same sentence, do they?? Sounds like you know what you're doing to protect yourself and your property. Keep up the great work!

Shrug it off and figure your applicant is having a bad day. Stick to the tried and true principles you've learned from other successful landlords on BP.

@Tony Velez It will be more of a headache to evict or deal with a tenant, than to properly screen them the first time. More work now, less headache later. Trust us! Perhaps you can word it a little differently in regards to the salary requirement. Put in a specific amount e.g. $3000 gross salary per month etc as a requirement. Keep it simple. No need to say X3 times of rent. 95% of the renters don't see our point of view, and we, as landlords, don't need to justify our reasoning.

We always use 3x rent rate as a base line for renting. That is just the starting point.

@Tony Velez. No such thing as being too strict. Stick to what you have been doing all along.

Am I being too strict on my tenant screening process?Am I being too strict on my tenant screening process?

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Am I being too strict on my tenant screening process?

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