Landlords: Would you rent to a family who had been foreclosed?

[Anonymous]

Don't rent to these people a single owner does not have the overhead to float them in case of a problem. Let the large apartment companies handle them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Nope. Not a chance. Take the time to find the right person, then treat them well. It makes landlording the easiest business around. (11 years, 7 properties, no problems). I'd rather leave it vacant than rent to the wrong candidate, and it's served me well over the years.

Is this your main job or hobby/part-time. I am in similar position w/multiple rentals.

I'm a SAHM and but I'd still say part-time for sure. There are busy times when I might work 3 or 4 hours a day but those days are rare. I would estimate I spend about 5 hours a week, on the average. I have lockboxes on all the houses and a tested, trusted team of repair-people so if something breaks I can send the repair-people in without visiting the property myself. We fix things right away, replace appliances as they age, keep the houses updated with new carpet and paint (we just replaced a perfectly functional but UGLY kitchen including cabinets, counters, and flooring), and treat the tenants with respect. In return, we expect rent the DAY it's due, choose tenants carefully before they move in, and expect the house and outside (and neighbors) to be treated with respect. It's been great.

Everyone I know who has a horror story has skipped several steps in the "due diligence" process of picking tenants. I swear I don't even need to run a background check anymore, I've done this so much. Do they show up at the open house during the advertised hours? Are they neatly dressed? Do they ask normal questions? Do they fill out forms correctly? If we have a meeting, are they on-time? Did they get lost on the way? I swear that's 90% of the screening process.

Thanks so much for your helpful response. I'm SAHM but handling a few apartment buildings in DC...it is a big job!!

[Anonymous]

how much though were taxes and insurance? because you are saying the old payment was more.... how much more? but I would probe and ask them why the foreclosure happened and see why they think it will be different now. were there extenuating circumstances like an illness? some people are good con artists and can befriend you to take advantage of you. on the other hand, some people fall on hard times and it is not their fault and you want to treat people the way you would want to be treated if this happened to you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I skipped the credit check for my current tenants. I had spoken to them so many times and really felt like it was unnecessary. I had them fill out the form and agree to pay for it but never ran it. They were clearly very willing to do it and I just felt like it was a waste.

I asked for employment letters and saw that the wife was a dr at a local hospital and the husband had a good job at a large company with a very good salary.

They were just very solid people. I think I would have rented to them if they had a foreclosure. They just kept telling me how much they wanted the place, didn't nickel and dime the rent or security and emphasized they would take care of the house as if it were their own home, They called to tell me about themselves and their family and that was worth more than a credit check. Those have errors too so nothing is 100%.

Those kind of people don't get foreclosed on.

There is a direct relationship between foreclosures, income and job type.

A friend of mine who was a medical resident *almost* got foreclosed on. Her house ended up being a short sale. When she started her residency in 2006, she and her husband bought a house in an okay neighborhood in the city where she lived (not DC, but neighborhood then was comparable to Mount Pleasant or Columbia Heights now - up and coming, but still a little rough around the edges). When the market tanked in 2008, development in her neighborhood ground to a halt, and not just her neighborhood but the whole city. They decided not to stay in that city and needed to get rid of the house, which languished on the market for almost a year. People just were not buying in that area. They were seriously considering just letting it get foreclosed on when the bank finally approved the short sale.

My point is that the economic hard times we've been in for the past 5 years has resulted in a lot of people losing their jobs who had been stable for years and a lot of people losing their homes who were not the kind of deadbeat losers that used to get foreclosed on.

In answer to the OP, I would be open to it, with a slightly larger deposit, provided that there were no other red flags. But it would really depend on the family.

[Anonymous]

Property manager here.

You have to read more into a family's foreclosure. Many families simply bought at the peak of the market and screwed up. But, they still have income.

That's the key - INCOME. If the family can show they have steady income that can pay for the rent then (if the rest of their financials are okay) it's okay to lease to them. The main focus is on steady income.

[Anonymous]

If the family can give up and throw in the towel they can do the same for your rental. It's a horrible attitude.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No way!! History of not paying bills is very important to me. I don't appreciate people living in a house while someone else foots the bill.

I did, great decision and here's why.
We decided to do it because the husband was a very high-paid attorney in a specialized industry (this is not a home in the DC area FWIW), they had a $3M home....lost it due to his job loss. they held on to it for as long as possible, paid all of their other bills. They lived in the same neighborhood as our home. had friends in the same neighborhood. Their goal was to rebuild their lives and their credit. we asked for first and last month PLUS security deposit. They have been in the house 5 yrs and have never not paid their rent. they take good care of the home.
if you think about it, they are a sure bet as they have no where to go! cant get a mortgage, kids go to neighborhood schools, cant afford to move....

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No way!! History of not paying bills is very important to me. I don't appreciate people living in a house while someone else foots the bill.

I did, great decision and here's why.
We decided to do it because the husband was a very high-paid attorney in a specialized industry (this is not a home in the DC area FWIW), they had a $3M home....lost it due to his job loss. they held on to it for as long as possible, paid all of their other bills. They lived in the same neighborhood as our home. had friends in the same neighborhood. Their goal was to rebuild their lives and their credit. we asked for first and last month PLUS security deposit. They have been in the house 5 yrs and have never not paid their rent. they take good care of the home.
if you think about it, they are a sure bet as they have no where to go! cant get a mortgage, kids go to neighborhood schools, cant afford to move....

he is an attorney you are fucked when they move out. I would avoid renting to an attorney especially one that weasel ed his way out of his debt.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No way!! History of not paying bills is very important to me. I don't appreciate people living in a house while someone else foots the bill.

I did, great decision and here's why.
We decided to do it because the husband was a very high-paid attorney in a specialized industry (this is not a home in the DC area FWIW), they had a $3M home....lost it due to his job loss. they held on to it for as long as possible, paid all of their other bills. They lived in the same neighborhood as our home. had friends in the same neighborhood. Their goal was to rebuild their lives and their credit. we asked for first and last month PLUS security deposit. They have been in the house 5 yrs and have never not paid their rent. they take good care of the home.
if you think about it, they are a sure bet as they have no where to go! cant get a mortgage, kids go to neighborhood schools, cant afford to move....

he is an attorney you are fucked when they move out. I would avoid renting to an attorney especially one that weasel ed his way out of his debt.

???

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Some people foreclose on a house for different reasons. My mom foreclosed on a house, Detroit-area though, but always paid her mortgage on time. She had gotten ripped off by a contractor and she didn't have the money to re-do the repairs. Had to let the house go. Anyway, some people foreclose for different reasons.

Still not a good history , except she blames others

Thanks, for reminding me. You know so much. How do you do it.

Landlord here. I would not rent to your mom.

[Anonymous]

probably not seeing where we run a credit check and a forclosure = bad credit. If someone can't pay the bills on a place they own and risk their credit by not doing so then how can I trust that they will give a crap about paying their rent and taking care of my place?

[Anonymous]

There are alot of variables... Did they foreclose because they lost income... Illness... The banks were and still are not trying to work with people....

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Property manager here.

You have to read more into a family's foreclosure. Many families simply bought at the peak of the market and screwed up. But, they still have income.

That's the key - INCOME. If the family can show they have steady income that can pay for the rent then (if the rest of their financials are okay) it's okay to lease to them. The main focus is on steady income.

+1...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:probably not seeing where we run a credit check and a forclosure = bad credit. If someone can't pay the bills on a place they own and risk their credit by not doing so then how can I trust that they will give a crap about paying their rent and taking care of my place?

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Some people foreclose on a house for different reasons. My mom foreclosed on a house, Detroit-area though, but always paid her mortgage on time. She had gotten ripped off by a contractor and she didn't have the money to re-do the repairs. Had to let the house go. Anyway, some people foreclose for different reasons.

Still not a good history , except she blames others

U are a jerk
And this isn't even my mom u are talking about