Two quick newbie questions on the income 3x more than rent rule

[Jehan Jaleel]

Part of the tenant screening process is their income must be more than three times the rent. But is this their pre tax income or post tax? Also if a tenant does not have this, would you reject them right away or is there something they can offer to compensate? 

[Eric G.]

3x rent is the criteria I look for during screening. I use pretax gross income.

It's not a hard and fast rule. I'm willing to come down to 2.5 times rent if there are compensating factors. For example, healthy savings or excellent credit.