Rental Requirements

What we require from all applicants

• Completed online rental application for each person aged 18+
• Copy of valid, current government ID
• Proof of Income
• Rental history – verification required

Online Application

All persons age 18+ who will live in the property, must complete their own application. No exceptions. All applications are done online, through the “Apply” links next to property listings.

PLEASE NOTE: We do not accept guarantors or co-signers. Tenants must qualify on their own. If you will not live in the property, please do not submit an application.

Identification

All rental applicants must submit a clear copy of government ID. The ID must be current and valid, and all numbers must be clearly visible. Most applicants simply snap a picture of the ID with their phones and upload that.

Animals

If pets are allowed at a particular property, we require all pets to be screened using PetScreening. Pets must receive at least a “3 paw” score on their scale in order to be accepted. There will be a pet deposit and/or fee, depending on the number of pets and their “paw score”. All applicants with assistive animals must also complete an animal profile through PetScreening, at no charge to the applicant. Tenants are responsible for damage caused by animals.

Proof of Income

We require verifiable income at least 3 times the amount of rent. All applicants must submit current proof of income. This can be:

• 2 most recent pay stubs
• Job transfer letter
• 3 most recent monthly bank statements with deposit history
• Most recent tax returns

If 3 or more adults will occupy the property, the income requirement is as follows (each adult must have income at least 120% of the monthly rent amount):

• 3 adults – Verifiable income at least 4 times the monthly rent
• 4 adults – Verifiable income at least 5 times the monthly rent
• 5 adults – Verifiable income at least 6 times the monthly rent
• and so on…

If you just started a new job, you can submit a completed Employment Verification. This must be completed by you and your employer. Depending on how the rest of your application scores, applicants just starting new jobs may be required to pay increased Security Deposit. Applicants with credit scores above 700 may be approved without additional deposits, even if just starting a new job, and / or don’t have landlord references.

Credit History

We do not approve applicants with unpaid utility bills, unpaid landlord debt, unpaid payday / personal loan debt, credit scores below 480, or late vehicle payments within the past 4 months.

Note: We do not use credit scores from sources like “Credit Karma” or “MyFico” – those are almost always inaccurate. We use credit reports and scores from Experian. Both statistical and historical analysis have shown that an applicant’s overall credit rating directly affects the risk and likelihood of default, damages and unpaid rent. Applicants with a lower credit score pose a significantly higher risk.

Therefore, in an effort to mitigate that risk and allow applicants with less than perfect credit to still gain approval for their chosen rental, we use a credit scoring model. This allows us to approve applications that may otherwise be declined due to low credit scores. If there is more than one applicant who will live in the property, we will use the average credit score of all co-applicants.

Examples of increased Security Deposits:

• $1000 rent + 625 credit score = $1250 deposit
• $1000 rent + 575 credit score = $1500 deposit
• $1000 rent + 530 credit score = $2000 deposit

We use a different scoring model for lower rent multifamily units (apartments). For these, applicants with credit score below 550 need Double Security Deposit. Credit score below 500 requires Triple Security Deposit.

Rental History

We do not approve applicants with any evictions in the past 5 years. Applicants must not have any unpaid debt to previous landlords or property managers. Rental history must be verifiable. You can help speed up the verification process by asking your current landlord or property manager to respond to our request. Applicants with no landlord reference may need a Double Security Deposit.

Applicants with no rental history or more than 3 late rent payments may need an increased Security Deposit for approval. Applicants with evictions in the past 7 years (but more than 5 years) may need increased Security Deposit.

Criminal History

We do not approve applicants with history of offenses of bodily harm, illegal manufacture or distribution of a controlled substance, or intentional damage or destruction of property (for example, “arson”), within the past 7 years. We may also decline applicants with any sexual related offenses from any time period. We do not approve registered sex offenders, or anyone with active, unresolved criminal cases.

Overall

We use a rental application grading system that takes all aspects of the application into account. We process completed applications in the order received. A completed application means all supporting documents were received. If one application is missing something, and another application comes in complete, we will process the completed application first. In the case of multiple applications, we reserve the right to accept the most qualified with respect to credit, rental history, income or employment history, and/or criminal history.

False statements on any application = automatic decline.

Application Fees

Application fees are not refundable. It is up to the applicant to submit complete, verifiable documents and information.