Landlords Say They'll Rent to the Foreclosed

Daily Real Estate News  |  May 4, 2011  |    Share

Landlords Say They'll Rent to the Foreclosed 
Eighty-two percent of independent landlords say they would rent to someone who had lost a home in foreclosure, if the applicant had otherwise good credit, according to a new survey by The National Association of Independent Landlords.

"Landlords typically won't rent to applicants with poor credit--and a foreclosure will absolutely slam someone's scores,” says Tracey Benson, president of The National Association of Independent Landlords. “The exception is when they see people who have paid their bills their whole life, but lost their job, can't meet their mortgage and must hand their keys back to the bank.”

Benson says that applicants with a foreclosure aren’t necessarily bad credit risks. “Often, they lost their jobs and homes through no fault of their own," she says.

As such, "because of this abundance of defaults, there is a greater need for rental property, so landlords should carefully vet applicants," Benson says, adding that landlords should do a thorough background check to determine whether defaulting applicants were a victim to financial woes or following a lifelong trend of not paying bills.

Source: “Most Landlords Say They Would Rent to People Who Lost Homes to Foreclosure, The National Association of Independent Landlords Finds,” PRNewswire (April 20, 2011)