Here's a new one for us and a very near miss!

Not quite as good as some of Brad20000's in-home visit yarns, but thought I'd share - feel free to add your best 'wow that was close' stories!

A well qualified candidate, passed all the background items, reference checks, etc, etc.

Lease signing day and the lease isn't signed online yet. We remind them they have until 4pm or we'd go to the next approved applicant.

"I'm sorry--I meant to text you earlier today the reason for my delay.

Because of our house fire and how our homeowners insurance is covering things right now, it is more complicated to get the answers I need for renters insurance, etc. I don't think I can have all of this answered in time to meet this deadline."

I'm not sure why having some complications after a house fire is a no go. Care to clarify?

To the point of the post: I had a gal who qualified on paper and references. Good income from a decent job (not a McJob), supposed good LL reference, okay if not stellar credit (I think around 620ish?), and clean background.

I did the 2-minute in home inspection. The home was a disaster. Junk all over the yard, holes in the walls, kids running around and screaming, an extra pit bull (in addition to the 2 dogs she mentioned on her application) in a kennel in the kitchen, holes in the floors even, dishes piled everywhere...

It was embarrassing I think for her to have me drop by, which I did with only 15 minutes notice so there wasn't time to hide anything major. I didn't say one word in judgment. Simply looked around. That's all it took. 30 seconds to know it was a NO GO.

Sid you are right, complications after house fire isn't a hard No.

Mentioning complications for the first time as an excuse for renter's insurance delay at the last minute, that's a No.

In this case, red flag because prior explanation for move from house to an apartment (and then to our apartment) was 'divorce'

We go over a written move-in checklist at our in-home visit as soon as the financial/credit/background check is approved so a last minute 'well I was going to tell you' renter's insurance delay seems...problematic

That is interesting?

I might have thought that the insurance company would have contacted you to rent to them. I forget what that is called, but I think Plenty does this. Maybe, executive leasing? You could get a premium in rent.

I'm still a bit confused though ... where was the fire? The house or the last apartment? Either way shouldn't you have "known" that's why they left?

Some answers-

The fire was at the house.

The reason given to us for moving from the house was 'divorce' (only)

The insurance company is not paying for her next apartment, and I assume is not paying for her current one. Not sure if insurance is paying for the spouse's lodgings (only), or if the fire left the home habitable, or what.

Is there a reason that a claim on a homeowner's policy should complicate getting renter's insurance at the same time? Many people own a home and rent another...it seemed like an excuse that didn't make sense. At best it's a sign of prior under-disclosure and at worst that she lied to us.

I'm not going to bother to sort out their insurance issues. I don't much care. They arranged to sign a lease at a specific time, did not notify in advance that they could not do it in the time frame that was agreed to.

Update: next candidate is indeed taking this unit.