All Forum Posts by: Will Fraser

Quote from @Will Fraser:

Woo Pig Soooie good sir!

As someone who has been on both sides of this equation in the NWA market I can say:  there are some extreme upsides and downsides.

The upside is that unless you build or buy something near campus that would appeal strongly to the staff and various others who are want to live near UofA then you are likely limited on options.  The non-students who tend to live near the university tend to buy and rent different types of homes than university students living near campus.

While some students can be rough on the properties, the cashflow is nice and it's a good way to afford some prime real estate that has an evergreen demand.

If you choose to rent to traditional students you should absolutely have their parents co-sign.    

You may be able to use noise monitoring devices, or you can design the space to be party un-friendly.  Alternatively you can work to build good rapport with the tenants (or hire a PM that does) and work to create a culture there that respects that parties are not allowed.

Thanks for the prompt reply @Will Fraser! Woo Pig Soooie indeed! We are very close to the U of A, walking distance from Baum stadium. Noise monitoring device is a great idea! We definitely also hope to build a good rapport with the students! What amenities do college students generally gravitate towards in your experience? We are really close to the bike trail so our plan was to have a large indoor closet with mounts to store bikes as an example.
 

Quote from @Will Fraser:

Quote from @Richard F.:

We do not consider the score itself, only the elements that contribute to the score. This will give you a little more insight to scores:

Say more about this . . .

I have pulled credit reports direct from Equifax for over 20 years. They include an actual FICO score (some services use a similar scoring system, but not the specific FICO algorithm). We do not use a specific score as one of our criteria for approving/denying applicants, however at some point I obtained this chart from Equifax. To be clear, they have similar "odds" charts for different type of business uses, and, I'm sure they change somewhat over time. But, since as I said, we don't rely on the score, I do keep it as a reminder when other criteria are all too close to make a final decision. Just google FICO odds chart for more...

With regard to the elements that contribute to the score, the Equifax reports provide their 4 primary factors for developing each score, such as: number of delinquent accounts; time since delinquency too recent or unknown; outstanding balances to credit limits is too high; serious delinquencies or collections on accounts; etc. These are the factors that we include on Denial letters, in the section that informs applicant about how to contact the credit bureau to get their free report. (We check off other boxes above that section for elements such as inadequate income, insufficient references, unable to verify income, and over a dozen other negative factors that may also be applicable.)

They also do show each trade account with details of when opened, high credit, balance, past due amount, date and amount of last payment or activity, type of account (unsecured, student loan, auto loan, charged off or included in bankruptcy, mortgage, etc.) and other items. They also show recent credit inquiries and their date; multiple prior addresses and "also known as" names; recent employment may be shown; birth date or date SS# established; consumer requested account freezes; consumer disputes a particular issue; discrepancies between recent address provided by our applicant and their last reported; and probably a couple other elements that do not come to mind right now.

'Nuff said?

Aloha,

We do not consider the score itself, only the elements that contribute to the score. This will give you a little more insight to scores: