Help with renting please! (Phoenix, Tempe: low income, apartment complexes, rental)

[Echristoe827]

Hey guys, so I'm new on here and have a lot of questions. Pretty stressed out. So my fiance just got a huge promotion doubling his salary. We are relocating to Phoenix (from Denver) in February however we don't know if we can be approved to rent an apartment. Reasons being:

1) I have poor credit due to education loans and poor choices in my past with credit cards. I'm slowly fixing this but my credit is still very low.
2) He has a 5 year old misdemeaner for possession of marijuana. However his credit is excellent, almost 800.

I'm seeing a lot on applications about devils due to drug reksted convictions, and I also know that nobody will rent to you with bad credit. Is it possible that his good income and credit will cancel out my low income and poor credit? We have a 9 month old daughter so I won't be working for the first secerak months when we move there so I won't even be contributing to rent. Is there a way to get around putting me on the lease? I'm afraid with our combination of misdemeaner and bad credit will keep us from getting any place and we can't afford that with a baby.

Any advice is appreciated.

[GSR13]

You can go on CL and search for "credit friendly apartments", and also look out for complexes that offer deposit discounts "On Available Credit". This implies, to me at least, that listings that offer "O.A.C. Discounts" would consider tenants with less-than-perfect credit. With Marijuana being nearly legalized statewide last year, I don't think the misdemeanor is a huge issue. Just dress up and be polite for the viewings and explain it's in your past. The fact that you guys have a small child will validate this.

Dang those application devils!

[Echristoe827]

Haha haha ok thanks. I'm just super worried about being denied for several places and getting stuck in a slum with a baby.

[yukon]

Contact one of the many apartment locator services in town. They can save you a lot of money in application fees by telling you upfront which properties will and won't work with you. I just moved into my place, which I found thru the Valley King office on Southern in Tempe. I also used a really good locator who specializes only in Central PHX, Kay Gilbertson. Both found me a good number of properties that would work with my low credit score (510-ish) and a lot of the properties were pretty nice (older, but well maintained and a couple were recently renovated). Be prepared to possibly pay a high deposit (up to 1.5x a month's rent). I ended up only having to pay 1/2 month's rent. Feel free to send me a PM and I can let you know which management companies/properties they sent me to, if you're interested. The locator is paid by the complex you ultimately lease with, so there is no cost to you.

And for the record...three of the properties that I really liked (including the one I moved in to) do not regularly advertise on craigslist, and they also don't generally advertise that they're credit friendly. I'd have never found any of them if not for the two locators.

Most apartments require that all adults living in the unit be on the lease, so both of you would be on it most likely.

[More Rock]

Drive around to find neighborhoods you like, hit the side streets, look for signs. Private landlords may have the apartment you want, and may be flexible re: credit record.

[man4857]

Originally Posted by Echristoe827

Hey guys, so I'm new on here and have a lot of questions. Pretty stressed out. So my fiance just got a huge promotion doubling his salary. We are relocating to Phoenix (from Denver) in February however we don't know if we can be approved to rent an apartment. Reasons being:

1) I have poor credit due to education loans and poor choices in my past with credit cards. I'm slowly fixing this but my credit is still very low.
2) He has a 5 year old misdemeaner for possession of marijuana. However his credit is excellent, almost 800.

I'm seeing a lot on applications about devils due to drug reksted convictions, and I also know that nobody will rent to you with bad credit. Is it possible that his good income and credit will cancel out my low income and poor credit? We have a 9 month old daughter so I won't be working for the first secerak months when we move there so I won't even be contributing to rent. Is there a way to get around putting me on the lease? I'm afraid with our combination of misdemeaner and bad credit will keep us from getting any place and we can't afford that with a baby.

Any advice is appreciated.

In general most apartment complexes I've dealt with approve you as long as your gross income is 3x the rent and if there's any criminal history, minor criminal history is acceptable. Basically as long as you can show that you got a job that can pay rent and you didn't murder anyone, you should be OK.

[Echristoe827]

Ok that's good to know. I just read the rental criteria for several places and was seeing things like denial for drug related convictions, bad debt to income ratio etc and it made me worry. You're answer has helped feel a bit more confident.

[man4857]

Originally Posted by Echristoe827

Ok that's good to know. I just read the rental criteria for several places and was seeing things like denial for drug related convictions, bad debt to income ratio etc and it made me worry. You're answer has helped feel a bit more confident.

If you want to be sure, just read the actual rental application and read the fine print for what that complex considers unacceptable in terms of criminal history. All the complexes are different, but generally have the same flavor.

[smoochaz]

How much are you planning on paying a month? Which part of town is he working? You may be able to rent a house from a private owner. If you are currently renting and are in good standing that trumps the bad credit and marijuana possession.

[yukon]

PS You're going to find that traffic here is much easier than Denver, and that the roads are much better than Denver.

IMO anyway