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If a person is asking about how to qualify to rent, nice answers from other tenants have questionable value. If one wishes to know how a landlord is going to react, answers from landlords are more likely to be useful. If a potential tenant has done something to himself to make himself a difficult tenant there really isn't much that can be said which won't sound discouraging.
So as a landlord what would you be looking for from someone in my situation before you would consider approving my application? I intend to have me and my fiances credit cards paid off in full. We both have steady work history. I intend to have a job offer before I apply for any apartments. Ill have first months rent and security. My rent to income ratio will be me netting $750 a week while paying $750 a month in rent. My fiance should be netting $400 a week. Id love for her to have a job offer up there by the time we start applying for apartments in that area, but the odds of that being the case are slim.
Is there any way for me to show that my delinquent debt was related to extenuating circumstances? I grew up in foster care and have no family to fall back on. I worked at fedex full time and was laid off in march 2011. I couldn't get a job that I could support myself on so I ended up going into debt. I started going to college in the fall of 2011 and I was able to support myself with student loans and a part time job but didnt have the income to pay off the credit cards. I was an honor student during school abd did what I had to do, just had no way of paying off the cards.
I was approved for a car loan despite that 2 years agon and my credit score has gone up significantly since then. Im surprised to hear its harder to get an apartment then a car loan these days....
Ive got great references and did pay my mother in law rent while I was living there....could I use her as a reference? Not really to much different then renting from a private individual. ..
Wow...just wow. I underwrite mortgages for a living and he has a better shot of getting a mortgage than you are leading him to believe he has to rent a place. What a joke.
He sure does, I've got a lot of my personal money in my properties and none of them are low income areas. I gave my opinion based on what I would do but once you become a professional landlord you can tell me how I'm doing it wrong. He will also pay out the nose for that mortgage with a higher interest rate and PMI.
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Originally Posted by johnrex62
He is correct about the maxed out cards hurting your score. Beyond that, my opinion is that he ran out of Fruity Pebbles this morning and is hurting bad, or maybe his milk went sour and he ruined his last bowl.
Your credit scores seem okay to me and you have 3 years of job history. Having a new job in hand will certainly not hurt you as long as it is in the same field as your current job. Your fiance's credit is even better than yours and will help your chances.
I would certainly get your credit utilization under 50%. (pay down your cards so you have at least half your available credit open for use) That will boost your credit score considerably. Best thing you can do for short term.
Keep documentation of all of these facts in case you run into another AZ Manager in your rental search and keep your spirits up. You Can Do It!!!
Are personal attacks really necessary? Also, 50% utilization is too high these days and will have a negative effect on your score. Get your utilization under 20%-30% and you wont see it impact your score negatively.
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Originally Posted by oregonwoodsmoke
Maybe.
As a landlord, I don't look at the number. I look to see who didn't get paid and whether or not anyone had to take you to court, and what the debts are about. Medical debt or student loans being paid on, even at a slow rate don't scare me like a big collection from Victorias Secret or a cell phone bill in collections.
My problem with you would be lack of landlord references. You don't have one for the past three years.
But if you already had the good paying jobs with proof of it, extra deposit, and probably a valid cosigner, then maybe. Although you could forget it if you smoke, dope, or own a pitbull.
Also, I'm am leery of people just moving into the area, but most landlords aren't bothered by it.
Exactly. Your number score is meaningless which is why I ignored it completely except to tell you that it is still low and will remain low because of your utilization.
Fact is you have a judgement which means you ignored debts to the point that they had to sue you to get anything out of you. If you were to default on that judgement they will sue you again except this time they will garnish your wages which makes it more difficult for you to pay rent. It is the same reason I don't rent to people with student loans that have been in collections in the last two years, they will garnish your wages without blinking an eye.
Furthermore, your issues are compounded by your desire to relocate without having full time employment lined up before relocating or any kind of rental history, 3 years old and substantial life changes since then makes it nearly meaningless. You MIGHT get a landlord reference off your girlfriends parents but that would depend on if they are collecting rent from you or not, or if they want to lie for you. Like I said, if you had a job earning roughly the same lined up your options are opened up a bit more, but that judgement is a big problem to landlords like me who minimize risk. I can evict a non-paying tenant in less than 25 days in AZ and I still would rather sit on a property than rent to people with a judgement.
People want to come in here and act like I'm being rude or mean but everything I said is 100% true and I wont sugar coat it to spare some strangers feelings. At the end of the day it is my hard earned money and because I've been doing this for a while now I know what the risks are and how to minimize them. I gave my opinion based on the facts presented to me and if you don't like it then you go rent to the guy.
So as a landlord what would you be looking for from someone in my situation before you would consider approving my application? I intend to have me and my fiances credit cards paid off in full.
Stop worrying about the credit cards and pay off the judgement. It is the biggest problem you have and you are letting it go on. If it were paid off I would have a completely different opinion of the situation.
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Originally Posted by Acton67
We both have steady work history. I intend to have a job offer before I apply for any apartments.
That is a big plus if you had a job before relocating.
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Originally Posted by Acton67
Ill have first months rent and security.
This is required to get keys no matter the situation.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Acton67
My rent to income ratio will be me netting $750 a week while paying $750 a month in rent. My fiance should be netting $400 a week. Id love for her to have a job offer up there by the time we start applying for apartments in that area, but the odds of that being the case are slim.
Income needs to be rent times 3 so if your rent is $750 you need a minimum $2250, that is ignoring the rest of your debt like the cars.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Acton67
Is there any way for me to show that my delinquent debt was related to extenuating circumstances? I grew up in foster care and have no family to fall back on. I worked at fedex full time and was laid off in march 2011. I couldn't get a job that I could support myself on so I ended up going into debt. I started going to college in the fall of 2011 and I was able to support myself with student loans and a part time job but didnt have the income to pay off the credit cards. I was an honor student during school abd did what I had to do, just had no way of paying off the cards.
It is possible your future landlord will require you to submit something that shows why it happened, specially true in the case of a foreclosure. When I take a tenant who has gone through a foreclosure I require the payment book for the mortgage to show the mortgage payment was more than the rent, they clearly couldn't pay the mortgage so if it was more than the rent how can I expect them to pay the rent.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Acton67
I was approved for a car loan despite that 2 years agon and my credit score has gone up significantly since then. Im surprised to hear its harder to get an apartment then a car loan these days....
Someone with a fresh bankruptcy can get a car loan. Car loans are easy to qualify for because they are short term loans, 3-7 years, with high interest rates, yours is probably 17% or more given what you said I would guess 23% or 24% unless you had a cosigner.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Acton67
Ive got great references and did pay my mother in law rent while I was living there....could I use her as a reference? Not really to much different then renting from a private individual. ..
You paid rent which means you now have a landlord reference technically. Some places don't accept references from relatives but that depends on who you are renting from.
If a person is asking about how to qualify to rent, nice answers from other tenants have questionable value. If one wishes to know how a landlord is going to react, answers from landlords are more likely to be useful. If a potential tenant has done something to himself to make himself a difficult tenant there really isn't much that can be said which won't sound discouraging.
I agree completely, and many landlords provide helpful information to renters, in a respectful way. However, the first response to the OP was unnecessarily caustic.
I hear what your saying AZ manager, I do want to hear the facts....
I had no way to pay these debts off being that I was laid off for 6 months, and when I ended up getting a job it was part time and much less then what I had been making. I tried to work something out with the creditors, but considering my income at the time there was little I could do. So they took it to court 2 years later and now I pay $100 a month which is much less then they where willing to take before the judgement. None of this really matters though, I have a judgement and obviously no one cares about the circumstances behind it. Its like you said though, you want to minimize your risk and thats just good business. Considering between me and my fiance we'll be netting around $4k a month I figured our rent to income ratio would make us good candidates for a 1 BR $650 mo apt.
You also didn't read my post last post. I DO plan to have a job lined up before I begin applying for apartments in that area.
What oregonwoodsmoke was doing was being straight up with me, you WHERE being rude by reading into my life situation in that first post. This is most likely what I'll be dealing with as far as prospective landlords go through, guess I better get used to it now....
This is in response to your first post on this page...
OP, I was the resident apartment manager of a 26 unit building in Santa Clara, CA, for 8 years prior to retiring 2 years ago.
First let me say my tenants loved me, but so did the owner because I was really good at minimizing risk in the way of screening tenants.
I would not have rented to you. Perhaps it's true you can get car loans and even a mortgage, but landlords have to look at whether or not a tenant is a good risk in a different way. A car dealer can take the car away if you don't pay, as can the mortgage company take away the house. You would have a lot more to lose from them, if you don't pay them.
But, someone with bad credit doesn't have much to lose as far as losing their rental. They can leave the place destroyed, with money owed, and then just go file bankruptcy.
So, there's a lot more to lose for a landlord to take the chance on someone with bad credit and who makes choices like you have.
So, don't think I'm being mean, try to understand where I would be coming from if I looked at your application.
Your credit score is bad. 603 is bad.
Then, I'd look at why. You have $6,000 in charged-off credit card debt, and one of your creditors decided to sue you and got a judgment which you are working at paying off. But, not the other debt.
And while owing thousands of dollars to creditors, you chose to buy a car. And not just any cheap used car. You bought a car that requires car payments, and probably higher insurance, too, because it's a new car - or at least not a cheap car.
And, knowing how bad credit debt works, what I foresee happening to you, is that debt they charged off back in 2011, will be sold to bad debt buyers in the next year, before the statute of limitations runs out on that debt. They will create new, open bad debt accounts, and will be pursuing judgments against you.
Granted, you will hopefully have enough money coming in to pay them all, but you may decide to just pay them before you pay your rent. Or you may decide to just file bankruptcy on everything, including rent you owe, and move back home.
Your fiance's credit is not as bad, but is also not good.
Why? Because her card is maxed out. So, she doesn't handle her credit well, either.
You would also have no current landlord references. I did not accept references from relatives, or girlfriend's relatives. I would never believe a relative's version of how much rent you paid, or how great you were as a tenant. I need to hear from regular landlords about how you treated your neighbors, how you took care of the property, how you paid on time. I need assurance that you are currently a good risk.
You'd have a good employment record, that's true. For part time work. And even though you had debt, and only a part-time job, you thought it made sense to buy a car on credit.
Now, it's quite possible you will be fantastic tenants, will pay off all of your debts and pay your rent on time, and be great neighbors to have in the building.
But, my job was to consider the risk of an applicant, and you'd be too great a risk.
Also, landlords are under pressure to comply with fair housing regulations. To be in compliance, you have to treat every applicant equally. So, if I accept one applicant with judgments and bad credit, and references from relatives, then I have to do the same for the next applicant.
So, it's possible you'll find a landlord to rent to you. But, probably not in a really highly desirable neighborhood, where there are better applicants than you.
I honestly wish you the best of luck. I'm sure you'll find something, but it will probably not be the apartment of your dreams. But, move in, and pay off those debts asap. Sell the car if necessary, and take public transportation. Then, look for the apartment or home of your dreams.
Last edited by NoMoreSnowForMe; 08-06-2015 at 06:03 PM..
OP - you know what they say about intentions (i.e. - I intend to have a job, pay off cards, etc.) - you have to DO that first. (and spell check/grasp of spelling is your friend).
Granted, you will hopefully have enough money coming in to pay them all, but you may decide to just pay them before you pay your rent. Or you may decide to just file bankruptcy on everything, including rent you owe, and move back home.
.
That's the thing, I have no "home" and need to relocate to start working as an RN. Not everyone has a mommy and daddy they can just fall back on when things get tough...The area I currently live in is flooded with nurses and I have no chance of getting a job with no experience. Thats why Im trying to move.
I got a car loan because I needed to get to school and work. I live in a rural area without adequate public transportation. I didnt qualify for a personal loan which would have enabled me to buy a cheap $3k - $4k car. My original car broke down and I needed something to get to school and work with. Being that I didnt have much disposable income to drop $3k on a cheap used car I took the only option available to me; a car loan.
OP - you know what they say about intentions (i.e. - I intend to have a job, pay off cards, etc.) - you have to DO that first. (and spell check/grasp of spelling is your friend).
I have to get a JOB first before where the income I make will allow me to actually pay the debts off, which is why I'm trying to relocate. There's no jobs for newly graduated RNs in the area I currently live in. I really need to start working as an RN asap or Ill never get a job. New grads are coming out of school every year and the longer Im not working as an RN the more undesirable I'll be to prospective employers.
To be honest it's like NoMoreSnowForMe said, Ill find an apartment. Its just going to not be the nicest place or in an apartment complex. Itll probably be in a duplex or triplex where the landlord doesn't do credit checks. I just wanted to know what my situation looked like to someone on the other side, and now I know...
Last edited by Acton67; 08-06-2015 at 06:43 PM..
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