Re: Qualifying a tenant - Landlord Forum thread

Re: Qualifying a tenant by George B on January 7, 2002 @16:51

Hi Janice and Cary, Boy did I put my foot in my mouth. My wife who also was a WIC recipient after our first child was born too. She really gave me an earful! Sorry. George Janice Landry on 1/7/102 12:33 PM said: >>George B on 12/1/101 2:52 AM said: >> >> >> >>>>Cary Estes on 12/1/101 2:28 AM said: >>>>I have to comment on George stating that your standards are not too high if you are qualifying people who except WIC. To me that IS discrimination. I received WIC when my child was younger and I was a stay at home mother attending college. I now have a great paying job, ($50,000/yr) and I have completed my Masters. My credit is in great shape and I am a home owner. If this landlord takes your advice and refuses to rent to people with WIC, he could be missing out on a great tenant. Please don't let that hinder your judgement. As long as the person has enough income to cover the rent and decent credit/rental history, why overlook them. (P.S. - I deal with people's credit reports on a daily basis and if you are only looking for people with great credit to rent from you, GOOD LUCK! There aren't that many of us out there. Better start looking for additional stuff to make your final decision on.) >> >>>> >> >>>>>> >> >>>> >> >>>>>> >> >>>> >> >>>>>>My partners and I are trying to come up with consistant across the board factors that are necessary to qualify to rent from us. I wanted to require that the rent does not exceed 40% of the prospective tenant's net household income (any child support, WIC benefits etc would be considered) One partner says that we can not do that. Is this true? >> >>>> >> >>>>>> >> >>>> >> >>>>>>Also, what type of factors do you use to qualify a tenant? >> >>>> >> >>>>>> >> >>>> >> >>>>>>Thanks! Cary >> >>>> >> >>>>>> >> >>>> >> >>>>Hi Cary, >> >>>> >> >>>>You can do pretty much what you want when it comes to qualifying tenants as long as you don't break the law by discriminating illegally. >> >>>> >> >>>>I don't like formulas of rent vs. income because there are usually too many other factors to consider. You need to consider debt, monthly payments to creditors, how frugal or luxurious is the tenant, etc. >> >>>> >> >>>>The credit report will help a lot. >> >>>> >> >>>> >> >>>> >> >>>>Cary, if you're qualifying people with WIC, your standards aren't really that high. Their credit reports are either non-existant or not so good. So if those seem to be the tenants attracted to your property, you might want to investigate programs like section 8 where your rent is guaranteed by the government. But make sure you still have good people as tenants. You still get to choose the tenants. >> >>>> >> >>>>Good luck. >> >>>> >> >>>>George >> >>>> >> >> >>

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