How to Rent a House with No Credit Check

How to Rent Property with No Credit Check

Learning how to rent a house with no credit check is mandatory if past financial troubles have left you with a low credit rating. While poor credit or no credit can make searching for a home more difficult, it shouldn’t stop you from moving into the perfect place for you and your family. In this article, I’ll share a number of tips that I’ve learned the hard way while trying to learn how to rent property with no credit check.

Fortunately, you are not alone. According to survey conducted in 2009, more than 80 percent of landlords reported a decrease in the overall credit scores of applicants. Because of this, around 44 percent of those same landlords admitted to lowering their credit score standards in order to fill their properties. Remember this fact and use it to your advantage.

How to Rent a Home with Bad Credit

Finding out how to rent a home with bad credit can make your life a whole lot easier when it comes time to find a place to live. And even if the landlord insists on running one, there are things you can do to make them overlook any financial blemishes they find.

Landlords Who Don’t Run Credit Checks

Seek Out Landlords Who Don’t Run Credit Checks – This is the easiest way to rent a house with no credit check. If the landlord doesn’t run one, then you have nothing to worry about. Consult your local newspaper, home renter’s guide, and even online resources like Craigslist. Some landlords will come right out and announce that they don’t do a credit check, although keep in mind that a few of these individuals may be trying to lease properties in less-than-desirable areas. In other cases, a landlord may not want to bother with the expense of obtaining credit reports, especially if they have numerous people looking at a home.

Landlords with Multiple Properties – If you can find landlords with multiple properties to rent, you might be able to get your new home without the hassle of a credit check. These landlords have multiple sources of income coming in, so they might be more willing to take a chance on someone with poor credit. This isn’t always the case, but there’s no harm in looking into the strategy.

Make a Good First Impression – When you meet the landlord to view the property, always seek to make a good first impression. Wear a suit and tie if possible, but at least avoid showing up in shorts and flip-flops. Greet them with a smile and a handshake, and conduct yourself in a friendly yet professional manner during your time together. It’s also a good idea to tell the landlord a little about yourself, especially when it comes to your current job. If the landlord knows you have steady employment and will be able to afford the rent, they may be more likely to waive a credit check.

Larger Security Deposit - One way to rent a house with no credit check involves offering to put up a larger security deposit than what’s required. Landlords love guaranteed money, so the temptation to walk away with cash in hand can often be powerful enough to make them forget all about a credit check.

A variation of this strategy is offering to pay three to six months rent in advance. Since the landlord will be getting their money straight away, why should they care about your credit rating? My golden rule: Cash is the ultimate credit rating.

The Importance of Honesty – If you’re unsure of whether or not the landlord will run a credit check, your meeting with them is the time to find out. When you pose the question, try to do it in the most nonchalant fashion possible. Otherwise, you’ll cause all sorts of alarm bells to sound in the mind of the landlord.

If their policy is to run a credit check, you should go ahead and admit to them that you have some spots on your credit history. Failure to do so will make you seem as though you have something to hide. The fact that you have bad credit may cause some landlords to eliminate you from consideration, while others may think more highly of you because you were honest.

Pay Your Utility Bills – Your utilities are one of the most basic services available, so failing to pay them on time can result in a major blow to your credit. If a landlord finds that your are delinquent on something as simple as a water bill or electric bill, they are going to assume that you can’t be relied on to pay the rent in a timely manner. If you do owe money for utilities at a prior location, avoid a credit check at all costs.

Improving the Value of a Home – When you speak with the landlord, ask if it’s okay to do things like painting the fence, staining the deck, or planting flowers in the yard. Even if you never get around to actually doing them, most landlords will be impressed with your willingness to help improve the value of their property. And if it’s a project that really needs to be taken care of, saving the landlord the trouble of doing it should score you some major brownie points.

Bring References from Former Landlords – If you’ve rented a home or apartment before, bring a letter of reference from your former landlord demonstrating that you paid your rent on time and helped improve the quality of the neighborhood. Landlords in medium-sized towns and small cities often tend to know one another, so you might get lucky if your future landlord happens to drink coffee with your old one.

Now that you’re better informed about how to rent a house with no credit check, it’s time to get out and do the hard part. Landlords can be curious individuals, so don’t let a few early hiccups in the house-hunting process erode your confidence. Getting a house with good credit can often be frustrating enough, so people with bad credit should expect to answer plenty of questions and be more open than they might otherwise be.