All Forum Posts by: Account Closed

Lots of good points Thomas, and no doubt being more flexible on credit opens the door to more potential litigation. The more properties one owns or manages the bigger target you become as well. 

Alexander,  If you bring judgement into credit decisions you are practicing an art, if you just check off boxes for compliance than you are a clerk, not an underwriter. Credit scoring assessment is based on statistical modeling, that is science. 

"For me anyone with a fico below 560 is probably a life long deadbeat, and anyone with no credit"

Linda, I said anyone with a 560 fico is probably a life long dead beat, I didn't say I thought they were a life long dead beat. The mathematical probability as I stated just leans toward their being more likely to be a life long deadbeat. Evaluation of credit is both an art and a science, there are advantages to setting minimum standards, also advantages to making exceptions. Someone can have recent bankruptcy and a 700 fico, are they a good credit risk? 

Thomas, if I knew nothing about credit, I would just follow your model on the 650 fico, the law of averages not only favors your methodology, but the elegance of it puts you in a better spot, should anyone make a claim you were acting discriminatory. I have rentals class C to C+ rentals, holding out for a 650 fico would often mean more vacancy and lower rent, so I elect to be more flexible, and probably take on greater loss risks than you do. My biggest tenant damage was from a 23 year old recent college graduate with over a 700 fico who always paid the rent on time.

Age discrimination, a federal fair housing violation. 

How do you equate a potential renter with no fico with a low fico potential renter? 

For me anyone with a fico below 560 is probably a life long deadbeat, and anyone with no credit file, probably is also a dead beat, but they could have no credit for many reasons other than their lack of credit worthiness, so I assign 25 gamble points to the no credit renter and treat them as equivalent to a 585 fico. While underwriting considerations given to compensating factors may carry the day for you, I find raw numbers have their own value as well. How would you equate no fico, if you were to think about the fico value equation? 

And yes, I've successfully shamed agents agents into returning my phone call. You also could leave em voice mail inquiring if they are still in the real estate business..

I've done both before. And also let people know about agents that don't return phone calls. 

Tom, we're talking real world reality, not what you want. You could bypass the non call returning agent and go to the managing broker, or even office receptionist. 

True David, I think of rentals as high subprime interest, where I am required to go there a couple times a year to deal with issues.