Author Topic: Your reply when one applicant is gold, the other not so much?  (Read 3534 times)

OmahaSteph

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My fiancé and I have found a home to rent, I've sent in my application, and I'm viewing it tomorrow. My fiancé still has to send in his. My credit, history, references, salary, etc. will be great. My fiancé's ... he's a bit of a wildcard. I imagine is credit is pretty cruddy, but he's never been arrested, never broken a lease, doesn't smoke, and has a decent job. (No, I've never seen his credit report. It's a long story. And yes, I'm insisting on a long engagement so he can get his shit together.)

From the numbers, it will be pretty clear to the landlord that I'm very stable and capable. How much of an impact do you think my fiancé's circumstances will have on the outcome? What would cause you to turn someone down in this scenario?

Your thoughts are very much appreciated.

marty998

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Re: Your reply when one applicant is gold, the other not so much?
« Reply #1 on: June 15, 2016, 03:49:06 PM »
Wouldn't have an issue... but it's not normally the practice over here to check credit scores.

As long as your name doesn't appear on TICA (the bad tenant database) and you can demonstrate capacity to pay and are one who will keep the place neat and tidy then it doesn't matter to me as a landlord.


tonysemail

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Re: Your reply when one applicant is gold, the other not so much?
« Reply #2 on: June 15, 2016, 03:55:33 PM »
Yes, assuming there are other, more qualified, applicants, I'd pick someone else.

ender

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Re: Your reply when one applicant is gold, the other not so much?
« Reply #3 on: June 15, 2016, 04:30:57 PM »
Imagine you find out you have a couple that wants to rent from you, isn't married, and one appears totally flaky.

What could go wrong?

The question is how flaky he appears in the application process. It sounds like not too bad.

MakeSmarterDecisions

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Re: Your reply when one applicant is gold, the other not so much?
« Reply #4 on: June 15, 2016, 06:17:01 PM »
We've actually had this happen. We made sure the individual with the more stable financial history could cover the large majority of the rent without the other person.  It ended up just fine.  Some people just need a little more time to sort things out (the long engagement is very smart though!)

OmahaSteph

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Re: Your reply when one applicant is gold, the other not so much?
« Reply #5 on: June 15, 2016, 07:51:05 PM »
We've actually had this happen. We made sure the individual with the more stable financial history could cover the large majority of the rent without the other person.  It ended up just fine.  Some people just need a little more time to sort things out (the long engagement is very smart though!)

I can cover ALL the rent and expenses, fiancé' income is just kind of a bonus in my eyes. I'm hoping they can see that.

MakeSmarterDecisions

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Re: Your reply when one applicant is gold, the other not so much?
« Reply #6 on: June 15, 2016, 08:28:46 PM »
That's great then!  Don't be afraid to point that out as well :)

mtn

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Re: Your reply when one applicant is gold, the other not so much?
« Reply #7 on: June 16, 2016, 06:04:04 AM »
Probably depends on the market. My wife and I were in a somewhat similar situation--I had NO credit and hers was good. To combat this I always offered to pay the security deposit and 3 months rent. Didn't help when every place that we looked at had about 12 applicants.

The place we got we just lucked into.

Tris Prior

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Re: Your reply when one applicant is gold, the other not so much?
« Reply #8 on: June 16, 2016, 08:09:36 AM »
I was in this situation; it can be done. My credit was perfect and my (now ex-)husband's was awful. The landlord ran my credit only and he was fine with that, as I also had the much higher income.

This was a private landlord; I don't think this would've worked with a corporate-owned apartment building or complex as they seem to have stricter rules here.

The tradeoff was, the lease was put in my name only. Which turned out to come in handy when I had to throw my ex out....

OmahaSteph

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Re: Your reply when one applicant is gold, the other not so much?
« Reply #9 on: June 16, 2016, 08:59:20 AM »
I was in this situation; it can be done. My credit was perfect and my (now ex-)husband's was awful. The landlord ran my credit only and he was fine with that, as I also had the much higher income.

This was a private landlord; I don't think this would've worked with a corporate-owned apartment building or complex as they seem to have stricter rules here.

The tradeoff was, the lease was put in my name only. Which turned out to come in handy when I had to throw my ex out....

Lol, I'm sure:)

In this case, it's not so much that he has bad credit as NO credit. He's kind of a financial ghost and likes it that way - no credit cards, no real bank account (he uses ADP through work), no bills in his name except his current cell phone contract. I don't claim to understand it, but I've stopped questioning and just handle my finances the way I see fit (our finances are not combined in any real way). We would both be fine with the lease just being in my name, and this is a private landlord, not a corporation, though a real estate company is handling the procedural stuff.

It will probably help further establish that this is MY lease and MY decision when I show up with my children for the walk-through. He will be at work and is leaving the housing decisions to me.

matchewed

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Re: Your reply when one applicant is gold, the other not so much?
« Reply #10 on: June 16, 2016, 09:22:09 AM »
My current landlord was a bit shaky with us as I didn't have a job at the time. I personally just showed him a glimpse into some of my assets and he was less worried.

His concern was generally in the event of a split up that either of the parties would be capable of handling the rent. Although in all my years of renting this is the only time a landlord has expressed this to me.

Another Reader

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Re: Your reply when one applicant is gold, the other not so much?
« Reply #11 on: June 16, 2016, 10:07:07 AM »
We require all applicants to to provide information and we run credit and criminal checks on every adult that will live in the property.  All adults must be on the lease as well.  We would probably not lease to you in this situation because all adults must qualify and it sounds like your fiance would not.

My observation over the last 20 years as a landlord is that these tenancies are unstable and rarely work out long term.  Often the person with the sketchy or non-existent credit will become a problem with damage and an eviction resulting.  As other landlords have said, a good credit score indicates responsible behavior and usually correlates with a trouble-free tenancy.

TrMama

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Re: Your reply when one applicant is gold, the other not so much?
« Reply #12 on: June 16, 2016, 11:22:07 AM »
I was in this situation; it can be done. My credit was perfect and my (now ex-)husband's was awful. The landlord ran my credit only and he was fine with that, as I also had the much higher income.

This was a private landlord; I don't think this would've worked with a corporate-owned apartment building or complex as they seem to have stricter rules here.

The tradeoff was, the lease was put in my name only. Which turned out to come in handy when I had to throw my ex out....

It will probably help further establish that this is MY lease and MY decision when I show up with my children for the walk-through. He will be at work and is leaving the housing decisions to me.

As a private landlord, this would actually be a bigger problem than the lack of credit. We do not rent to people we haven't met in person. Your SO would have to show up to at least one showing in order for us to accept your application. IME, people who can't be bothered to look at the place they'll be living do not make for stable, trouble free tenants.

OmahaSteph

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Re: Your reply when one applicant is gold, the other not so much?
« Reply #13 on: June 16, 2016, 11:45:42 AM »
I was in this situation; it can be done. My credit was perfect and my (now ex-)husband's was awful. The landlord ran my credit only and he was fine with that, as I also had the much higher income.

This was a private landlord; I don't think this would've worked with a corporate-owned apartment building or complex as they seem to have stricter rules here.

The tradeoff was, the lease was put in my name only. Which turned out to come in handy when I had to throw my ex out....

It will probably help further establish that this is MY lease and MY decision when I show up with my children for the walk-through. He will be at work and is leaving the housing decisions to me.

As a private landlord, this would actually be a bigger problem than the lack of credit. We do not rent to people we haven't met in person. Your SO would have to show up to at least one showing in order for us to accept your application. IME, people who can't be bothered to look at the place they'll be living do not make for stable, trouble free tenants.

We live near a military base where it isn't unusual to rent to people who are still across the country, so having 3/4 of our family there to view the house in person is actually more of an anomaly in this case. Houses go lightning fast, which is why I set up a viewing ASAP and we already sent in our applications and paid the fees beforehand. It would be much more irresponsible for him to call off work on such short notice. If it looks like this will go through, obviously he'll come to a viewing/signing. It's not a matter of "can't be bothered." Far from it.

OmahaSteph

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Re: Your reply when one applicant is gold, the other not so much?
« Reply #14 on: June 20, 2016, 08:02:13 AM »
FWIW, we got the house very quickly and with no problems at all.

MakeSmarterDecisions

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Re: Your reply when one applicant is gold, the other not so much?
« Reply #15 on: June 20, 2016, 05:20:29 PM »
Terrific!  That doesn't surprise me.  Enjoy!