All Forum Posts by: Kyle J.

Sounds like a simple (albeit frustrating) problem with a simple straightforward solution....evict the tenant (and the boyfriend) and screen your next tenant better.

Welcome to BP. You can learn a lot on here.

If you have the same work schedule that a lot of the firefighters I know have, that should leave you a fair amount of extra time for your learning and real estate investing.

Good luck in all your endeavors!

Yes, see my previous post. (CAR website, Amazon, or ask a realtor for one.)

You can order it on the CAR website (not free though). You can also order it on Amazon (also not free).

The CAR forms are generally hard to get for free. I've had luck though just asking a realtor for a particular form that I've needed.

Glad you were able to resolve it.

Makes sense. Thanks Dale Osborn.

Michael Lauther I did find this on the website "Identify potential investment properties in Sacramento, Placer, Yolo, and El Dorado Counties" under "What we do".

However, it was in small print on a page with lots of type, and I think it could be a little more prominantly advertised so the potential customers were clear up-front and didn't have to search for it.

How about asking him to provide his grades to you? He may not have a rental history, or much of a job history, or credit score yet, but his grades could give you some indication of what kind of student he is and how seriously he takes his responsibilities. Just a thought.

I second what Richard Cahoon said. Don't take out new credit if you don't need it. This can actually backfire and lower your score.

It sounds like your biggest issue might be with just the length of your credit history, and not much can fix that except time.

One easy thing to do would be to request credit limit increases with your current card issuers, since that can lower your overall credit card utilization ratio (which is rated high in factoring your score) without opening new accounts.

Here's some other tips from My Fico: http://www.myfico.com/crediteducation/improveyourscore.aspx

One last idea for you. Check out a website called Credit Karma. Once you sign up (it's all free), they can evaluate your current credit score and they'll give you an overall letter grade AND break down the different categories (i.e. open credit card utilization, average age of open credit lines, total debt, etc) and will give you a letter grade for each category. That can help you determine where you are strong, and where you are weak.

But probably their best tool for your scenario is a "credit simulator" where you can see how various hypothetical changes (i.e. opening a new account, increasing your credit limits, adding a new loan, etc) would affect your overall credit score. It can be pretty helpful.

Best of luck. And if you do nothing else, at least keep making your payments on time (that's a huge factor).

Al Williamson I'm curious why you switched back?