Does it make any difference if your rental applicants are married or not? If they are not married (dating, engaged or just shacking up), does this issue have any bearing on whether you rent to them or not? If both applicants are working and it takes both incomes to make the 3X minimum, is this an issue?

“How do I avoid this situation?” By only dealing with easily garnishible tenants, deal only with people who never have failed to pay their bills.

Sisco,

Don’t deal with most of them. Only deal with easily garnishible.

Sisco,

Change my marketing strategy? Believe me, I have tried. Years ago, I quit using yard signs since that only produced the worse looky-loo prospects. I quit using CL due to all of the scammers and low quality applicants. I now use Zillow and I am still getting low quality applicants. Occasionally, if I wait long enough, I will get a great Class B applicant who does not want to pay Class B rents and will settle for one of my nice Class C houses. However, these types only rent for 1 year before they are moving out and buying a house.

I've been the first landlord for many a new couple with great results. Many ended up marrying. And buying their own houses has been a trend lately - instead of moving to another rental, many of my tenants have ended up buying. That never used to happen!

It all depends on the individuals who are part of the couple. They BOTH have to be fine upstanding young people.

Roy,

Then it sounds like you are stuck because of the tenant class you cater to. Sounds like you already know the answer to your question. Class C tenants come with more issues, not really a way around that. That's why I don't choose those kinds of properties. But someone has to do it. It's just more maintenance.

Roy, if you keep doing what you have been doing, you will keep getting what you have been getting.

Poor people will continue to do the things that make them poor: unstable relationships, unstable jobs, disability income, moving often, not paying bills. You get lots of inquiries from poor people because the they move 10 times more frequently than do people with middle class values. This gives the appearance of them being a much larger group than they really are.

Good tenants expect to deal with a housing provider who they can quickly determine online is not a scammer. Who offers a good online presentation of the house, the leasing process, the terms of the lease. Online payment.

If good tenants don’t see these things, you will never know they existed.

The bad tenants contact everyone offering housing rentals.

It seems like it is your market, you neighborhood. You need to find how to make that work for you. Class C? How can you at least get the cream of this class, not the dregs. Marketing? Move in specials? etc.

Roy, I know your market because I cater to them too! I'm probably more of a Class C- than straight Class C, but what I strive to do is find the few (and they are out there) who are good. There are good people in every income range, just as there are bad. Some wealthy folks will tear up houses and use stall tactics and lawyers to skip out, just like poor folks tear up a house and pull a midnight move-out then go under cover.

I agree with Sisco though. You HAVE to change. There is no alternative and no arguments. No change = same old, same old. Don't try to change the leopard's spots: even if you paint him with five coats of KILZ, he will still be a leopard.

So what changes?

1) Get a website. I know you're old skool, so hire someone who will do it for you if you don't want to learn how to use a drag and drop editor like Weeby (they host my site). For about the cost of ONE FILING FEE ($247 in your area, I believe?), you can find a college IT student or an online helper who will build you a basic website that has a "Showing" "Apply Now" and "Available Now" pages that you can easily maintain yourself going down the road. Make it a point to drive all inquiries to this site. Include a link in your Zillow ads at the top and the bottom. Splash the website on your lead photo too. Cost a few bucks if you don't know how to do PhotoShop, or there are free online tools that will water mark a photo for you.

2) No more ungarnisheable income. Make sure the combined household is AT LEAST 3x, and I'd go a step further and say at least one applicant must make no less than 2 x the income. Anything less than that is a simple NO GO.

3) If 1 and 2 are NO GO, it may be time to sell out of your current market and upgrade to Class B, if you can verify that the tenants at that level are more stable / have better income.

Follow up:

1) Typo...that should be Weebly is my website design/host vendor (not Weeby). Very simple "drag and drop" tools means you do not have to know coding.

2) Answering your original question. Yes, I rent to unmarried all the time. In fact, right now I have....2 sets of married tenants...and a whole lot of single moms, single dudes w/girlfriends, etc.

Marriages are less frequent these days than in the past, and that does contribute to a lot of instability. When one person is sick or out of commission, the whole house of cards crashes down....unless they happen to be really blessed to have a steadfast "partner." I have seen some unmarried couples be more faithful to each other than married....but that's another topic for another day.

About 100 years ago when divorce was considered a social stigma, yes, that probably helped keep some households intact and stable who would otherwise have split up. Today there is much more emphasis on individual being able to come and go as they please: both in married and unmarried circumstances.

Bottom line: do not consider married vs. unmarried as a criteria. Two reasons: 1) it is not a practical concern as I've demonstrated above and 2) there's also the federal Fair Housing Act that reads....

"The FHA, to date, includes seven protected classes: race, color, religion, national origin, sex, disability, and familial status."

Thanks Sid for your answer. It is always a breath of fresh air to read your solutions to my problems,..LOL.

I think this post is more of a rant than anything else. I do have 14 great Class C tenants so I know I am doing something right here. It is just when I go looking for another great Class C tenant, I have to swim in the same stinking cesspool to find that next diamond in the rough. I have enough experience to know they (Class C diamonds) are out there and I just have to be patient. Years ago, I would only have to sift through 10 losers to locate my diamond but now the I have 20 plus loser prospects to deal with instead of 10. Even Section 8 applicants are cruising Zillow now.

Sid, sorry you are incorrect about the familial status things. It doesn't pertain to marriage at all, only to the presence of children under 18.

Thanks WMH for clarification on familial status.

I think a lot of times Landlords error on the side of caution because a discrimination lawsuit would not be good thing to happen to ones rental biz.

Early on in my rental biz I had a prospect: mother with kids apply for one of my units. When I ran the credit check it was bad, charge offs, collections, delinquents. I did no need to call a landlord or make an in home visit. I refused the prospect based on the credit report outcome. THEN the mother of the prospect called and accused me of discrimination against the kids. I told her you need to get your facts straight and don't ever call me accusing me of something that I did not do. Then I hung up on her!!!

Prospects will say something that will be a red flag during the initial phone call or during the showing that will be a red flag. It's great how prospects like to talk and during their talking phase of the showing they just did a set elimination. It's funny!!!

With married couples or couples living together it all depends on their credit check and income factor. If each of the prospects don't qualify and one is below the 4x's rental income. And the stronger wage earner leaves then you have a problem with lower wage earner not able to keep the unit. Each prospect must pass the income and credit check.

Sometimes you get a married couple very strong income and pay on time then theres a life changing situation and they become non paying deadbeat tenants.

32 years ago I had applicants, a "married" couple with 3 kids. The wife was a stay at home "mom" and didn't want to fill out an application, saying it was discriminating to "homemaker" because half of the husbands salary is counted as hers. So I didn't want to alienate these applicants, they were a "protected" class.

Stupid me, they weren't married and she had a bankruptcy and two evictions. I found that out in the second year of occupancy when she stopped paying the rent.

Roy, I don't rent to room mates. Too often one finds a girl/guy and then leaves putting the others in a situation where they usually can't pay the rent.

I require unmarried couples to have rented together elsewhere for at least one year. I found this out after renting to a few unmarried couples that were just getting together that most don't last very long.

I did just rent to a lady who could more than afford this Class A house and she wanted to bring in her new boyfriend. If they break up she will be staying because she wants the house for her daughter.

I want to see SID spray paint that leopard with Kilz!

It is true that Familial Status does not directly refer to marriage. It was written to protect PREGNANT woman who were “in a family way” and being turned away by LLs who did mot want children around or were afraid tje mother would not keep her job.

BUT

Interpretation by your local Fair Housing office is what matters. Lawyers have evolved this class into “no one can define a family” including what constitutes marriage. Mine clearly says we cannot discriminate between married or not.

Don’t poke the bear. Don’t be the test case.