I understand that many park owners want high quality tenants, but what if you have a prospective tenant who may have poor credit, but has outstanding landlord references?
I ask this because many people as they enter adulthood do not seem to understand the value of credit and may have past hospital bills, student loans, etc, but are trying to improve their credit as they are a bit older and wiser.
One landlord where I am (the largest landlord in the state), began a program where if a prospective tenant has bad credit, but everything else is clean (prior rental history, background) they can take 6 hours of credit classes offered free through the US Treasury Dept, and meet with a credit counseler, then be able to rent one of their units. If the tenant completes certain goals towards improving their credit, they receive a $100 credit on their account.
I know that this model is not exactly approprate for everyone, but have you ever tried to work with people with bad credit with success?
We do not run credit checks on our tenants unless they are being financed through our captive finance affiliate. So I would say, yes, we work with people with bad credit all the time. We do not care about credit, only whether employed (ability to pay). But we do not send them for credit counseling in exchange for $100. That’s an interesting idea, though.
Frank has mentioned this before, but what matters is the resident’s “FIGHTCO” score not FICO score – does rent come out of the paycheck first or not?
I do credit checks because I know from experience someone with bad money management skills will eventually default on their rent or make repeated excuses as to why they need to pay late. You can not fix stupid.
I am not a social worker and could care less whether any individual improves their credit. I am only in business to make money and expect tenants to pay on time with minimum hassle. My responsibility, in operating a business where tenants are effected by my decisions, is to mitigate my risks in all possible ways. Accepting high risk tenants hurts all tenants. Also I can pick and chose my tenants because I don’t have POHs I have to fill.
Actually I do have one POH and if all I had was applicants with bad credit it would sit empty.