With all of
the short sales and foreclosures taking place borrowers are wondering how to
rent with bad credit. Prospective Tenants have their credit pulled as part of
the application process prior to the real estate anomaly, a low credit score
would result in being declined. However, with the over whelming number of people
losing their homes in distressed sales, owners and property managers find
themselves making concessions.

In a post
How to Rent a Home if You Have Bed Credit, Tamara Holmes reported, “According to
a 2009 survey by Rent.com, 81 percent of property managers have seen a decline
in the creditworthiness or credit score of prospective renters, and due to the
shift, 43 three percent of landlords reduced their credit policy standards in
order to fill vacancies.”
Karen
Gunn-Bardot, broker manager of Showcase Property Management a long time property
manager says, “many of the people who have lost their homes are good people who
just hit hard times. If a prospective tenant just has a blip on their credit
report associated to a distressed sale situation, and no derogatory or criminal
issues, I go to bat for them with our owners.” Karen went on to say, “most of
the people who I have rented that came from a distressed sale have turned out to
be some of my best tenants.”
Prospective
tenants should have a letter prepared explaining their situation and expect to
pay first and last months rent, along with a security deposit. Also have,
references you can provide, and a copy previous positive credit report, showing
your credit score, if you have one available.