How to underwrite a retired tenant?

Question

**This a new one for me!!**

How to underwrite a applicant that is retired living on supplemental income and proceeds from a sale of their home?

What type of information should I request besides monthly bank statements? Anything else could anyone recommend or a process that anyone has gone through before?

This a new one for me!!

Thanks!  In good health!!

CV

Johnny Bravo · Answer

Correct me if I'm wrong but your concerns are two fold. Whether they have the ability to pay (money in the bank or coming in) and willingness to pay (will they be a good resident). Does that sound about right?

Then your process should be relatively the same as any other fully employed applicant if that's who you are comparing against. Same as if they are an Instagram influencer or solopreneur or whatever could be considered unconventional employment/income. Proof of their ability to pay would mean bank statements and/or income verification. And of course do a background and eviction check on them.

Disclaimer: I work for Transunion and this post is my own and not directly endorsed in anyway by them.

TU has a risk based scoring model called ResidentScore which is specific to residential real estate and was designed specifically to assess the risk of a tenant skipping out or being evicted. This differs from a credit score which is a model for debt. Might be worth looking into the two TU offerings in this space, SmartMove for smaller owners and TU Resident Screening for larger (hundreds-thousands of units) owners.

Or feel free to ping me for any questions.

Good luck!