I’ve got 2 applicants for 1 vacancy.

Tenant #1 Single adult young male (but brought gf to tour); presents well, showed up on time. Communicated well. Earns 6000/month. BUT from cash Business. Unverifiable income. He owns a marijuana “grow” farm. Got great reference from current LL of 3 yrs. But this LL is within his grow farm business/associate. Credit rating 740. Tenant Says does not

Smoke and understands there is no smoking in apartment. (Pot smoking inside has been a big issue here and I uphold lease- don’t want another problem).

Tenant #2 Two young men. College students. Play sports. Presented very well. Showed up in dress shirt tie. Good LL reference. Parents will co-sign/no credit ratings. Understand no smoking no parties. I have 2 four plexes And 3 of 4 tenants are working professionals and have been there for years. Seems at any given time, I have one unit with college age tenant. This would be the “one” for this building if so.

Who would you choose? I was at # 1 but now not so sure. Something smells weird and can’t put my finger on it. Could take 1st and last

Months rent to compensate for unverifiable income. I actually don’t

Think payment will be an issue though.

Seriously you'd consider #1 ... That's asking for the very thing you write you'd like to avoid.

Out of the two #2...

Oh this is good... yes on the I can get more showings.

#1 said he has a bank account. On app says 10K in it.

Drew,

I suggest less focus on their appearance and more focus on YOUR criteria.

#1 was out the moment you said 'cash business. Unverifiable income.' (I have no problem with legal MJ)

#2 - my criteria includes LONG TERMERS. I don't want one year residents. "Understanding" no parties? Of course they'll swear to no parties! I'm sure they are great kids but I want a solid res who will stay for many years and NOT need training from me on how to be a renter.

The thing about 1 per building is not an excuse to relax your business plan.

Stay strong my friend!

Oops - lost a line!

#1 Cash Biz means you cannot garnish when he falls behind. My criteria includes GARNISHABLE because people DO fall behind. It's my only method to be paid after eviction.

I would ask #1 for his last two years of tax returns and last 3 months of bank account either personal or business. If he can support the income of $6,000 then what's the problem.

#2 sounds fine but you need to run the parents credit report so they also need to complete application and sign a release for credit reports. I've never had a problem with parents as co-signers.

I don't take smokers and I don't take unverifiable income and I don't take landlord reference from family or business partners.

I'd not want to discover that marijuana was being grown in my unit. It's really hard on a house.

The students, did you verify the landlord is really the landlord? Did you screen the cosigning parents? How good is their income and credit? Are the students related? Did you screen all cosigners.

How are their grades? What sport? If they are in a demanding sport, maybe a sport scholarship, are maintaining good grades, have good verified landlord references, and all the cosigner are well qualified, I might t ake a chance on them?

If given the two, I would go with #1. He has a good education, a good job, a good income, and a great credit score. With a credit score of 740, he is responsible and pays his bills. I wouldn't even consider number two if number one applied.

This is great. Fantastic range of perspective! Decided I didn’t have enough info and realized I was making some pretty big assumptions without giving the guy(#1) an opportunity to partake in the conversation in my head. So spoke with #1 expressing concerns/gaps and got clarification and verification. He is paid in cash but there are stubs and he is having accountant send copies for last 60 days. He is willing to show bank account, pay first and last, plus deposit or whatever it takes.

My job as a manager is to foresee possible problems and set up policies and procedures to protect myself from what MIGHT happen, no matter how nice the folks seem. Every deadbeat evictee or res who left cussin started out as someone nice who we approved.

I find that the more steps it takes to get an app approved the more likely there will be problems down the road.

My friend who works in the credit report industry says the #1 problem he sees is LLs not believing the info in front of them and then trying to fill in the blanks with assumptions or justifications for weaknesses and gaps in the data.

We go with what they can prove. We don’t chase down info to help their cause.

My criteria is in place because we’ve been burned so many times by people with plenty of cash today but suddenly no cash tomorrow. Or they play the game of delaying payment then waiting out/delaying eviction because they know we cannot get to their money.

There ARE easy, stable, long term propsects out there if you keep looking.

I would not want either.

Further consideration. In ontario if the govt accuses a landlord of benefiting from the profits of illegal activity that the tenant is doing, the landlord's rental property can (and has been seized).

This "benefiting" would (and has) included the tenant paying their monthly rent with money generated from perceived illegal activity.

I have no ties to the MJ business in Colorado, but have followed the developments with great interest. It's a big money business and you have to have deep pockets to get in. A local woman was a guard at the correctional facility. She opened up one of the first shops in town. It seemed like an interesting change of occupation. She said it was purely a financial decision. $$$. I believe there are many people in the MJ industry like her.