In order to help make sure you get approved for the apartment you apply for, I need to ask a few personal questions about your qualifications. NO JUDGEMENTS. My job is not to tell the apartments about your business. My job is to recommend apartments where you have the best chance of being approved.
Generally Speaking the apartments are going to qualify based on 4 things, Rental History, Credit, Criminal History, and Income. These are not the only issues that an apartment may have with your application, but it gives us a good starting point.
Rental History
Apartments are going to want to look at your rental history. They are looking for broken leases, evictions, or a history of late payments. If you have a rental debt of any kind in the last two years, it’s gonna be real tough. Let me know about any issues with previous apartments, as well as current issues
Credit
In addition to rental history, apartments are going to look at your credit. Some apartments can be pretty flexible and work with lower credit scores with an extra deposit. They have a minimum score and if you’re over, you’re good, if you’re under that’s a higher deposit.
Some apartments are going to be tougher to get a straight answer. They take a more holistic view. They look at a wide variety of factors. Big issues like foreclosure and bankruptcy are factors, but other things like age of accounts, credit utilization, payment history, debt to income all factor in. With these kind of proprietary risk screens, it’s tough to get a straight answer without applying and risking app fees. I usually recommend if you are under 625, maybe we should look at properties that are easier to qualify.
Income
Most apartments are going to require you make 3x the income. Some apartments will work with 2.5x. Others can simply ask for a 1 month deposit up front to get around income requirements. If you have an offer letter from a new job that you are starting in the future, that is as good as paystubs at most apartments. Some apartments will require employment verification.
Criminal History
Each apartment is going to run a criminal background check. Different apts have different policies. You might be able to secure employment with criminal BG, but different properties have different qualifications. Depending on what kind of criminal background you have, whether or it is a misdemeanor or felony, those factors will determine which management companies will work with it. Some properties will go by the date of conviction. Some properties will go by the date of completion of sentencing.