Single mom has income 4x the rent, has had a decent job 2 years+ and 4 year job before that. Doesn't smoke, no pets. She comes with 7 and 11 year old kids---- son and daughter. So the three of them. Its a 2 bedroom aparment they want to rent.

Whose the boyfriend?

Nobody at present.

Anybody have experiences? Concerns?

This is something of a first for me.

Leaning towards her. The only other likely candidate after looking 2 weeks is choice #2........ a couple in their mid 50s.

They smoke and have 2 cats. The wife pulls in disablility- but only about twice the rent. The husband is self employed- does odd jobs, and actually has a stack of home-scribbled receipts. Lawn mowing, carpentry jobs, etc. But nothing with an actual paycheck.

This apartment also has tenant covering utilities (gas & electric). It varies with our units by necessity. Some we cover them, but this one they have their own water heater & furnace. I would normally lean toward the older couple but kinda afraid they may have trouble paying the rent.

Thoughts anyone??????

That's a good point, what if they break up and the wife takes off, leaving the freelance husband in the apartment right.

Duplexer,

Careful, you are close to family discrimination. LL can only consider PERSONS, not children, and may not consider sleeping arrangements..

My written criteria says 2 persons per bedroom so that’s 4 persons no matter what age.

No to smokers.

No to self employed (often means “cannot keep a job.” For me means no garnish of unpaid rent. )

No to income only twice the rent. Cannot consider odds jobs.

Spend your time and energy looking for a solid applicant.

BRAD

I say you have a lot of ways to not accept this family. But having kids is NOT one of them.

She may have 4x income, but after running a full credit report, it will list her monthly obligations. Such as credit monthly payments, car payments, student loans, etc.

Her cats, ask for the proof when they were fixed and at what age. If male cats aren't fix before they go thru puberty, then they will spray everywhere. Wall, flooring, cloths, etc.

Savings should be enough to cover several months of living if they loose their job.

And it's 2 people per bedroom PLUS 1 Person per rental. So a 2 bedroom can house 5 people.

Does the first candidate meet all of your objective criteria? If so, rent to her. She is stable with the last 6 years of verifiable employment. Why does she need to have a boyfriend in order to be considered when her income is 4x's your rent?

Some children are well behave and some aren't. Look for kid damage when you do the in-home inspection.

I've had single mothers with two kids that were wonderful polite well mannered children and I've had a different single mother with two kids, who allowed her children to roam free and do whatever they wanted. That didn't work well.

Mostly my families with children haven't been much different than tenants without children.

Duplexer, I mean this with all possible goodwill: you REALLY REALLY need to attend Mr. Landlord's Boot Camp to learn how to run a rental business from the ground up, including selecting tenants.

You've posted numerous times here about questionable tenants, texts, turbulence between them and you...and with this post, you are close to breaking federal law.

You need some expert guidance.

#1 is the lesser of two evils. Another vote for too many red flags on option 2.

2 weeks? If your area is anything like mine (and by the sound of it, it is) then it takes about 1.5 to 2 months to get a fair tenant. Best to go vacant. I feel your pain.

Duplexer, Jeffrey has a wonderful set of resources to grow your mind and grow your business.

Proverbs 27:6 "Wounds from a friend can be trusted but an enemy multiplies kisses."

Please go back and reread WMH's heartfelt post to you.

Over many posts, you have been given excellent advice about how to establish screening criteria that is compliant with federal guidelines. It does not appear that you have done so.

You need help. It is no shame to need help. All of us needed help when we started out.

We were a complete mess! We were ignorant of virtually every aspect of being landlords, and so I read countless books and attended numerous in person and online seminars.

Our goal was to get out of Landlord La La Land as fast as humanly possible.

The key to our success was when we learned something we changed what we did to incorporate what we had learned. You need to change what you are doing.

One Fair Housing lawsuit will completely wipe you out.

You cannot produce documents that show that you have an established, unbiased, objective set of criteria that you apply to each and every applicant.

Your astronomical tenant turnover is telling you something.

Again, there is no shame in needing help.

I do not know who to credit for the following.. If you always do what you always did, you will always get what you always got.

Duplexer, do not let that be you!

If attending Jeffrey's boot camp is out of the question, Jeffrey sells some exceptional resources on this website including audio and video recordings of previous boot camps.

I am rooting for you!

mapleaf, me too. My kids went latchkey WAY before they would be allowed to do so today, too. I mean...WAY before. My oldest was actually babysitting OUTSIDE THE HOME for other mothers at 10...so you can imagine when they started taking care of themselves after school...

>>How many red flags do you like to cater to? Your second “option” has more than I can count.>>

Honestly, I can just laugh. I'm on my 3rd week talking to 3-4 people a day and its literally 8 hour days doing this.

Practically ALL of them have more red flags than these people. I don't know where you're finding people with good jobs, rental histories and thousands saved up who wnat to rent, but they're not coming through my door.

Turns out the woman with the 2 kids is actually being evicted from a trailer court RIGHT NOW, so she gets her deposit back this afternoon. She put down a fake landlord but I found the real one using the county tax records for the address.

That leaves me after 3 weeks with the older couple with the two cats described above, and a carpentry duo who are looking for a place, but get paid in cash by a subcontractor and therefore basically have no provable income.

Whats more there's a guy with the same name as the carpentry guy (this is candidate #3) who has an eviction for $5 grand in unpaid rent. He denies its him, says its his cousin with the same name.

The county circuit court, when called, can't verify which- they put the record in without a state ID or drivers license, OR a middle initial. Isn't that nice.

>>>Why does she need to have a boyfriend in order to be considered when her income is 4x's your rent?>>>

You're missing the point entirely. We don't SEE the boyfriend.

IS he a nice guy, or is he a convict, wife-beater, druggie, who knows? Is she running away from this guy? Because you know the boyfriend is coming, or is already out there.

So I was committing reverse sexism assuming the MAN is bad, which I'm sure you approve of/find totally acceptable.

before you posted back about her being evicted I was a NO to both options. Are you really still considering her? and why would she get her security back if she is being evicted?