Getting Ready to Rent:

Best Practices in a Competitive Market.

Looking for a Rental?

Here are the best practices to ensure that you will have a chance in a competitive market.

Finding a rental today is a competitive sport. Landlords want their tenants to be able to pay their rent on time and to keep the property clean and undamaged. It’s a risky business for property owners. New Jersey has very strict tenant’s rights and the process of evicting a non-paying, or destructive tenant is costly, time consuming and lengthy. Fair Housing laws prevent the landlords from choosing tenants based on an interview, which could give them reason to discriminate against rental candidates. Instead, they must choose their future tenants based on how good they look on paper. So, what makes you look good on paper?

Rental Application A fully filled out rental application, (Preferably typed on a pdf) with personal references that can be checked, is step one. The amount you are claiming to earn on the application should match your pay receipts, or tax return. If you make non-traditional income, such as cash, you will need a way to show that regular deposits have been made in your bank account, or that you have claimed your earnings on your most recent tax return. All adults age 18 and over should be listed on the application, especially if they are wage earners. You should provide a list of all people regardless of age, that will be residing in the apartment and their relationship to you. If you have adult children that are full time students, that should be noted. Please, do not forget your pets. If you need help, ask your real estate professional to help you fill out this application, completely and properly.

Credit Score You can run a free credit report on sites like creditKarma.com or your bank may provide this as a service. If your credit is below 650, you may want to work with a professional to look at why your credit is so low and to help you increase your score. There are free services that may help you repair your credit, here is a good article on that: https://www.badcredit.org/how-to/free-credit-repair/ Landlords will look at your income-to-debt ratio, to ensure that you earn enough to pay your revolving debt and the monthly rent. When you print your credit report to a pdf file for saving and emailing, make sure you have the entire report open and not just the page that shows the score only. Pay Receipts Your pay receipts should be proof of what you have put down as your salary on your application. The general rule is that you need to earn four times the monthly rent in income, or three times at the very least. That means for a monthly rent of $2,000, you would need to earn $8,000 a month ($2,000 a week) or at the very least $6,000 per month ($1,500 a week). This can be individual or combined income if there is more than one wage earner on the application. Your pay receipt should be the most recent one available. Financial information more than 30 days old, is not considered reliable. It is very important to have all of the above information gathered before your search begins. This information will help to determine affordability, along with your rental needs and preferences and will make your real estate professional aware of any potential issues that may pose a problem ahead of time, so she or he may help you resolve these. The more your real estate professional knows about you, the better able he or she is to represent you and get you the outcome you desire.