Welcome to City-Data.com Forum!
U.S. CitiesCity-Data Forum Index
Go Back   City-Data Forum > U.S. Forums > North Carolina > Raleigh, Durham, Chapel Hill, Cary
 [Register]
Raleigh, Durham, Chapel Hill, Cary The Triangle Area
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
View detailed profile (Advanced) or search
site with Google Custom Search

Search Forums  (Advanced)
Reply Start New Thread
 
Old 08-23-2016, 12:41 PM
 
1,177 posts, read 2,333,302 times
Reputation: 840

Advertisements

We are renting out our townhouse. There is an applicant that saw the unit this past weekend and is very interested as it is ideal situation.

Applicant is in process of filling out application so we can run credit check, but already informed us of poor credit and past bankruptcy all accredited to divorce several years ago. Applicant can show substantial income, and past bank statements, to show more funds flowing in than flowing out. Applicant even offered to pay 4 months rent upfront.

If we still decide to proceed, what is the best terms we can set?
Ideally we would like to set the 4 months upfront rent aside in some sort of "escrow" so if tenant stops paying rent and we need to evict, then we can tap into this escrow.

Is that legally possible? I don't think we can declare this as deposit since NC may have limit to deposit amount.

Also, how is someone with good credit any less risk? They can decide at anytime to stop paying rent as well and force us to go through eviction process.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message

 
Old 08-23-2016, 12:47 PM
 
Location: The Triad
34,090 posts, read 82,620,862 times
Reputation: 43652
Quote:
Originally Posted by meanieme View Post
...already informed us of poor credit and past bankruptcy
Next!

Have a standard criteria that gets applied to all equally
at the top of that list is financial capacity
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 08-23-2016, 01:00 PM
 
1,177 posts, read 2,333,302 times
Reputation: 840
Quote:
Originally Posted by MrRational View Post
Next!

Have a standard criteria that gets applied to all equally
at the top of that list is financial capacity
If he can show/prove he is currently very financially capable, and that his credit history and banktruptcy is due to his past divorce, do I still hold it against him?
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 08-23-2016, 01:16 PM
 
9,265 posts, read 8,218,722 times
Reputation: 7613
Quote:
Originally Posted by meanieme View Post
If he can show/prove he is currently very financially capable, and that his credit history and banktruptcy is due to his past divorce, do I still hold it against him?
I think a lot depends on where the townhouse is. If it's in a hot town where people are knocking down doors for rentals, then why risk it. If otherwise, then you have to weigh the pro's and con's.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 08-23-2016, 01:53 PM
 
Location: The Triad
34,090 posts, read 82,620,862 times
Reputation: 43652
Quote:
Originally Posted by meanieme View Post
..do I still hold it against him?
You're approaching it backward.

Does HE meet your standard (whatever it is)?
"Must be this tall to go on the ride"

There are too many solid applicants that will meet the standard
to do more than be polite to the others.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 08-23-2016, 02:21 PM
 
326 posts, read 383,373 times
Reputation: 379
If the credit check backs up his story (i.e. you can see exactly in his history where this happened and you can equally see that since that time he has paid his bills on schedule), he can show income and bank statements to support the financial obligation of paying the rent, and he's willing to put down 4 months up front then I wouldn't exclude him from consideration.

You will need to work out the details of what the 4 months up front means. Is it a security deposit to be held until final termination of the lease? Is it prepayment of the first 4 months' rent at which point there is nothing left for an ongoing security deposit? Is it something in between--e.g. could it serve as security deposit for the initial term of the lease and then be partially rolled to prepayment of the initial portion of a lease renewal with some remaining part retained as security deposit?
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 08-23-2016, 02:32 PM
 
748 posts, read 1,372,136 times
Reputation: 954
Wow! Tough crowd! I was in a similar situation for a while. Bad credit from a really bad divorce. Then my husband got sick and we have a mound of hospital bills...paying them off a little at a time. Doing the best we can. We pay our bills every month on time and never late with the rent (most times we are early). We have had two different landlords here in North Carolina that have been very understanding and have accepted us as tenants despite our not so great financial history. We also have great references and that helps.

Sometimes life deals you lemons. Im glad there are people out there that gave us a chance.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 08-23-2016, 03:15 PM
 
Location: North Carolina
626 posts, read 622,331 times
Reputation: 941
This is a tough crowd as well. I have been in that situation with a bad divorce and my credit score in the low 500's four years ago when I moved to a different city for a new job. I was able to prove to the property manager and the landlord and show them that my bad credit was because my divorce and that it will be rectified. That I had the financial capacity and a brand new job to afford the rent. While on top of that I paid first, last, and security deposit just to get in the apt. I am still in the same apt four years later and never missed a payment, and now my credit is back up to Good. Also I plan on moving back to NC this year so all is good.

OP, I would say that it would all depend how you feel about the person honestly and how the credit report looks. If the person feels good and can verify his story then go ahead. If he is kinda squirrely then no don't rent it.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 08-24-2016, 12:44 AM
 
1,177 posts, read 2,333,302 times
Reputation: 840
Quote:
Originally Posted by tkeru408 View Post
You will need to work out the details of what the 4 months up front means. Is it a security deposit to be held until final termination of the lease? Is it prepayment of the first 4 months' rent at which point there is nothing left for an ongoing security deposit? Is it something in between--e.g. could it serve as security deposit for the initial term of the lease and then be partially rolled to prepayment of the initial portion of a lease renewal with some remaining part retained as security deposit?
Would like 1 month to be security deposit, and the remainder 3 months to remain in some sort of "escrow" that can be tapped into if tenant ever is late or stops paying rent for any reason. Because it normally can take 2-3 months to evict. I don't know if this means all of this has to be considered "security deposit".

Or maybe you gave me an idea, it can be setup to be initial portion of lease renewal, or tail end of current lease.

Hoping others can share experiences.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 08-24-2016, 05:16 AM
 
Location: under the beautiful Carolina blue
22,640 posts, read 36,609,195 times
Reputation: 19847
If you want to be a LL you should familiarize yourself with LL-tenant laws (which I believe can be found on C-D's real estate forum, which might be a better place for this question) and you should have an attorney who can help you parse these details instead of a bunch of "maybe they know, maybe they don't" people on the interwebz.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.

Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.


Reply
Please update this thread with any new information or opinions. This open thread is still read by thousands of people, so we encourage all additional points of view.

Quick Reply
Message:



Over $104,000 in prizes was already given out to active posters on our forum and additional giveaways are planned!

Go Back   City-Data Forum > U.S. Forums > North Carolina > Raleigh, Durham, Chapel Hill, Cary
View detailed profiles of:

All times are GMT -6. The time now is 01:15 AM.

© 2005-2024, Advameg, Inc. · Please obey Forum Rules · Terms of Use and Privacy Policy · Bug Bounty

City-Data.com - Contact Us - Archive 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37 - Top