All Forum Posts by: Bruno P.

Hi @Bruno P., this actually sounds like a fairly common scenario, especially in today’s market, where more homeowners are selling and shifting to renting.

If she can provide clear documentation from the title company confirming the proceeds and the closing timeline, that helps a lot. I would also want to see proof of continued employment, even if she’s not currently assigned to a project. A letter from her employer confirming her status could go a long way in verifying stability.

That said, I would still treat it like any other application and make sure the credit and background checks come back clean. If everything else checks out but you still feel unsure, asking for a larger deposit or a few months of rent upfront can offer some added peace of mind, as long as it’s allowed under your local laws.

At the end of the day, it comes down to how comfortable you feel with the risk and whether the documentation fully supports the story she is presenting. You are thinking through it the right way.

Best of luck with the decision. It sounds like you are approaching it carefully, which is the right move.

@Bruno P. We had two homeowners who sold their home and needed to rent. Based on the information we found during our normal application process we did the following: 

1. 1 paid for 6 months in advance w/ deposit. Unfortunately when the 6 months was up we had to evict them.

2. The 2nd paid for the year upfront with proceeds from the sell. 

An couple options you can consider if your laws allow it...

1. Double deposit and first month, or double deposit and 3 months upfront since it sounds like her employment is more of a contract not an actual W-2. 

2. Normal upfront (whatever that is for you) based on your application process and a rent guarantee insurance policy with LEAP or some other company that provides that service. 

These are the two options we take when prospects don't score high enough on our Rubric. 

Hope this helps.

I am not aware of any issues with using third-party screening services. Technically it's up to $25 and not to exceed your actual cost of the credit report. 

We use Zillow applications to pre-select and run a full background check on mysmartmove only with the final candidate. The applicant needs a credit card to complete the process and they charge more than $25.

A lot of landlords in Milwaukee do the same. I am on the board of the RPA (Rental Property Association of Wisconsin, a non-profit) and typically hear if things like this are an issue from our members or attorneys. There is some legislative push-back on "junk-fees", but every example I have seen was IMO truly a rip-off.

Here's a good guide with links to the law: https://www.tenantresourcecenter.org/earnest_money

If you charge $25 and the credit screening costs $10, you can keep the $10 as income. If the credit screening costs $25, then you earn nothing.

I believe there are exceptions for a higher fee, but you have to stick to the actual cost of the screening.

I would talk to an attorney before charging more than $25 per applicant. You probably don't run many applications, so I wouldn't sweat losing a little money on each one. You can pre-screen them for free, then run the credit/criminal background only for those that pass your initial review so you're not wasting time.