I have a job in the valley paying a great salary, but can't find a rental. (Los Angeles: middle-class, short sale)

[billthecomputerguy]

I bought a home in San Diego right next to work. A year later that company laid off almost its entire work force and closed that office. For most of that time in San Diego, I flew around the world doing consulting. I did consulting for several years and finally moved to the bay area for work as there was no work in San Diego or at least the work that was there paid 3rd world wages. I renting out my house for a year in which I lost my shirt because I had to rent it for $900 less than my payment and the property manager charged us for fictious repairs that were never done. My interest rate was near 7 percent and by then interest rates were 4%. I couldn’t refinance, because I was up sidown on the house. I worked with wells Fargo and Fannie may filling out forms and asking them to help by lowering the interest rate. They said, why we should we, **** you. Well at least in their own words. I finally worked with a realtor and short sold the home.
Although I have 20 years of credit history and many many accounts that have been paid on time and as agreed, I have one that wasn’t. My credit score went from 733 to 566.
No one cares about anything on your credit but the score.
I had been contracting for a while and I got a great job offer back in Southern California in the San Fernando Valley. I have been working there for a month. Together my wife and I make well over 200k, but now I can’t find a place to rent. I have been turned down 4 times. Most of the time the property already has several applications on it before we even look at it. I started this job 5 weeks ago and I have been staying in a hotel and going back on weekends or my wife has been coming down. She came down 3 times to look at places and we are ready to give up.
I could always find a new contract job back up in the bay area, but this is a great job at a great salary. I hate to give up.

[jacktravern]

I gotta ask, where have you been looking. B/c in the decade I have lived in LA, I have moved several times, and most of these apt managers just cared that you didnt have any evictions, b/c I didnt even always have a full time job. My school debt is high, which caused concern in one place, but they just asked for a security deposit plus half.

Its alot easier to evict here in LA as opposed to a super tenant friendly place like NYC, so it seems more people are willing to rent with risk.

Do you have any evictions? Do you have recent pay stubs.

Have you looked in the Reseda/ Tarzana area? Northridge?

[DCNita]

You may be better off renting from an owner instead of a company. Try to find a condo or a house to rent. Owners may have more compassion for your credit situation. There are thousands of people that were upside down on their homes and had to foreclose or do a short sale - this is the state of the US today. I would be sure to explain the situation and your credit score to the leasing agent before you pay any fees or let them run your credit and request that they see if they can get their managers approval first before you go through all of the hoops. They should be able to tell you if they are willing to work with your not once they have all of the information on your current status.

Los Angeles Apartments, Orange County Apartments, and San Diego Apartments

I found plenty of condos and houses for rent during my search for rentals on this site.

[ElysianEagle]

are you talking about renting or leasing? have you looked at sublets to tide you over while you look around?

heck, i was able to get on a lease in a prime location in manhattan, just two years ago, and this was when the landlord pulled up my credit report and saw those charge offs!

i did have to pay 4 months rent as a security deposit (which i did get back in full) so maybe you can offer more as security? also if you go thru a broker he/she might be able to get you in by leveraging their relationship with the landlord or management company.

oh, and i second the advice of going directly to the owner IF you can. but also at this point a broker might be needed for the reasons i mentioned above. you might have to shell out a broker fee if you go this route, tho.

[nightlysparrow]

Or offer to pay above the asking price.

[mayorhaggar]

You maybe just gotta find that one landlord with a thing about respecting privacy and who won't ask for a credit report. They're super rare though. And in the Bay Area you'll find it VERY hard to rent without providing a credit report, and a bad score will be trouble. Maybe see if there's any ways to improve your score.

[JohnG72]

OP your posting does not make sense. At least not how you've stated things.

Modest homes in ok SFV neighborhoods run $2500/mo. Even with bad credit you are way over qualified in terms of income level. There's no landlord that would turn you away for that.

So where exactly are you looking and what advertising vehicles are you searching?

[SportyandMisty]

Originally Posted by DCNita

You may be better off renting from an owner instead of a company. ...

As a landlord, I wouldn't have any problem renting to you if you explained your situation/facts to me.

[Dunbar42]

Think of it this way, you have several very qualified applicants applying for your rental. Do you choose someone who has a good or bad credit score? I know the rental market on the west side is pretty competitive so I can definitely see someone with a bad credit score getting passed over. If you're going to ignore credit scores than why bother checking them in the first place?

[smokingGun]

the problem is you're looking at either luxury complexes or condos/townhomes run by one of the big management companies. They both seek to minimize their potential losses so they're extra careful with screening. I hate to be the bearer of bad news (especially at your income level) but you ought to be apartment hunting in down-market middle-class hoods like Chatsworth, Winnetka, Van Nuys, NoHo & Glendale. It's not going to be posh like areas near Ventura Blvd but you need time to rebuild your credit history.