1brs

[oregonwoodsmoke]

Originally Posted by EasyBeezy

It's no wonder there are so many homeless in Portland. A conviction on your record or less than ideal credit and your hopes of renting accommodation are out the window.

The homeless are homeless because they either can't afford rent, don't want to pay rent, or can't budget their money and spend too much on drugs or alcohol.

People with evictions and convictions can find a place to rent. There are landlords who specialize in people with evictions and convictions. Rent is high, deposits are high, quality is low, and maintenance is scanty. However, it is a roof over their head as long as they keep paying the rent on time.

[Metlakatla]

Just curious; did you run credit and background checks on all of those applicants or did they offer the information about convictions, bankruptcies, etc. freely during the initial phone contact?

[oregonwoodsmoke]

Are you asking me? Yes, they often volunteer the information after hearing my rental criteria during phone screening. Not being stupid, they don't want to pay the application fee once they have heard that I am going to actually check. They'll say, "well, I had a -----fill in the blank in whatever year. Is that going to be OK?"

Or they just lose interest and decide they don't want to view the house that they were so excited about a few minutes prior. So, I am making the assumption that after hearing what they need to do to qualify, they have something on their record that will get them rejected.

There are a fairly large number of applicants who ask about their sweet pit bull, and they don't apply, either. I have no idea if the pit bull is the only issue with those applicants. Maybe everything else about them is sterling and it is just the dog. My experience with the tenants who try to deceive me about their pit bull, they are not generally model citizens, but maybe some of them are and I wouldn't know becasue they don't show up to apply and lose their application fee after having been told I won't accept their dog.

I don't want to take application fees from people who obvious will not qualify, so I am very clear about what my rental criteria is, before we get too far into the process.

[Metlakatla]

OK, thanks for your answer. I usually only get about 15 applicants, but it's in an area where not too many people are looking for rentals.

[princessgrace79]

Yeah, I work in property management and 1200-1800 average one bedroom is wrong. That is NOT average. There are luxury apartments in that range, but that is not the definition of average.

$800-1200 is more what we rent for - and this is all over - both east portland, sellwood, downtown and NW price ranges, and not luxury but safe and decent.

[MrFreeze2014]

Originally Posted by oregonwoodsmoke

The best way to beat out the competition for an apartment is to be better qualified than any other applicant. Have a high credit score, plenty of income to pay the rent, low debt load, a job where the boss loves you, two prior landlords who cried when you left, no pets, non-smoker, non-doper, freshly washed, clean hair and clothing, and good manners.

I've had 150 phone calls over a vacancy and 100 of those people had evictions, convictions, bankruptcies, not enough income, so they didn't get to even see the house. The 50 who were left, 35 of them lied about their income or who their landlord was. Of the 15 that were left, half of those were groups of roommates who could not qualify for income on their own.

That doesn't actually leave a lot of competition for the good rentals for the applicant who is fully qualified.

I appreciate a renter's perspective. Thank you.

[MrFreeze2014]

Oregonwoodsmoke:

As long as I've got you, here, let me get your opinion on my situation. I don't know what my credit score is today. It was good last time I checked, but that was before I went back to school and took on $40k in student loan debt. I pay my bills on time every month. I currently make almost 5 times the rent I'm paying. I work for the school district. I'm relatively new at my job and I don't even know who my boss is, let alone how he or she feels about me. I can tell you that at my previous job - where I did the exact same kind of work I do now - my boss and co-workers loved me and I have letters of recommendation to prove it. I've never met my current landlord and only saw my previous one a handful of times. He seemed indifferent to me, as far as I could tell. I have two cats and don't smoke. I have no evictions and no convictions, apart from a ticket for day-dreaming my way through a red light.

How does all that sound? Any red flags? My current landlord can confirm that I live here and that I've never been late with the rent, but other than that, he probably couldn't tell you much about me as a tenant. As far as I know, he's never had any serious issues with anyone in this house.

Thank you.

[oregonwoodsmoke]

You want me to guess how a landlord I've never met is going to react to tenant I've never met over a rental application I've never seen?

If your current landlord has never noticed you, then you have never caused him any trouble. If you work for the school district they will have a personnel department that your prospective landlord will contact.

I don't know what your credit report looks like so I don't know if there is any problem there. The two cats will make it more difficult to find a rental. Many apartments are no pets allowed so there is more competition for the apartments that do allow pets because a lot of tenants own pets.

The ticket for running a red light will most likely not have any effect, but I can't guarantee that.

Your salary is currently 5 times the rent, but it might not be when you arrive in Portland. Without verifying your information that you give, if everything checked out to be the truth, you would probably be acceptable to a landlord. You just have to worry about someone else better qualified, more income, better credit report, more time on the job. You are going to be a stronger applicant than many who are applying.

[bler144]

Originally Posted by MrFreeze2014

Oregonwoodsmoke:
I don't know what my credit score is today. It was good last time I checked, but that was before I went back to school and took on $40k in student loan debt. I pay my bills on time every month.

Having debt doesn't generally hurt your credit score, and to some extent can actually even boost your score if you are successfully making your payments.

It will show up in any calculation of debt/income ratio, but it tends to be treated as "installment debt," i.e. they would generally look at the amount of your monthly payment compared to your monthly income, and not the full value of the debt.

The reason being that the full amount you borrowed is not currently due.

[MrFreeze2014]

Again, thank you for your perspective, oregonwoodsmoke. I'm not gonna worry too much about someone more qualified coming along. If I can find two places in Seattle, I can find one in Portland.