Help With Tenant Selection

There is a young lady that wants to rent our unit. She's 29 and her credit history is not good (a dismissed bankruptcy and three accounts placed for collections last year). Her score is 508.

However, she is willing to have a co-signer and also use automatic debiting for her rental payments. I want to give her a chance, but I realize the risks. Thoughts? Thx.

Comments(7)

  • pinkflamingo12th February, 2004

    Maybe if she is willing, you could get 2 months security deposit? Guess it depends on how bad she wants to move into the property, and how many other prospects you have.

  • InActive_Account12th February, 2004

    Was the BK dismissed or discharged?
    In any case, her past credit problems would account for her low FICO and collection problems. If you have a good co-signer, you are good to go.

  • JSJ12th February, 2004

    Thanks. The BK was dismissed.

    She's the first one to show serious interest in over a month, so the income would be nice. She understands that with a direct debit, any default entails answering to two banks, in addition to us, so I take that as a good sign.

    JSJ

  • busterduke12th February, 2004

    When we had tenants I always relied on gut feeling. We would meet with them and while we would talk I always would watch gestures and how they carried themselves. This may sound wierd but we had fantastic tenants. Also in your post , does she have references, check them out. What kind of car does she drive? Is it new or old? If its a clunker and it breaks down will she be able to repair it. You may want to give her a chance but it might cost you more than you know. Just my 2 cents worth.

    Mark

  • raymo2813th February, 2004

    personally i don't pay too much attention to fico's. i find that most people(though there are exceptions to every rule) once they've found out how bad it can be usually strive to pay for a roof over thier heads. i mean do you really know why she filed????
    i would give her a chance, especialy with the direct debit. i would even go so far as to debit her once a week (it will be easier on her)because someone like that usually finds it much easier to pay $100 per week than $400 a month.
    theres my penny
    [addsig]

  • JeffAdams13th February, 2004

    Increase her deposit.

    Take a drive by where she currently lives and sign the rental application there.
    You might keep on driving!

    It is my experience that I have taken chances on people who turned out to be the best tenants ever! On the contrary I have rented to friends and had to evict.

    Give her a chance, look at it this way. She will be a long term tenant as it will
    be hard for her to find anything else!

    Best Riches,
    Jeff Adam
    [addsig]

  • JSJ13th February, 2004

    Thanks for all of the input, folks. My gut inclination was to rent to her, but my partners and I have collectively decided to pass.

    JSJ

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