Rental Advice From A Landlord:

In this section, we will get rental advice from the perspective of a landlord. Ever wonder what types of things they look for in a good renter? Well wonder no more, because we have the top 5 things a landlord looks for when renting an apartment to a prospective tenant:

Credit score - A renter's credit score will tell you a lot about their history of making payments (or missing payments). The credit check is a vital source of information for the landlord to get an understanding of the renter's ability to pay their rent on time.
Background check - A good property manager will always perform a detailed background check on a potential renter. In this check, they are looking for past foreclosures, evictions, criminal activity, and generally ensuring they are not a criminal.
Income to debt ration - This goes along with the credit check, but some landlords may want to know how much income you are making per month, and some even go one step further to see what your monthly debts are. This will show them you can afford that $3,000 per month penthouse condo!
Down Payment - Many apartment buildings will require a renter to pay a first month, last month and security deposit equivalent to one month's rent before move in. In a $1,000 per month apartment, this would require a renter to pay $3,000 cash to move in. This is a large piece of cash that many renters do not have. This is the reason why many apartments waive most of the move-in fees and application fees when they have a lot of vacant apartments they need to fill.
Attitiude - As petty as it sounds, many landlords will take a renter that is haggling over every detail of the lease agreement, price points, and incentives as a sign of bad things to come. If you are fighting over every penny of your lease amount now, that may be a sign that you will have problems paying that rent in the future. This can raise a red flag to landlords if they have limited inventory, and can be choosier about who they qualify and approve to rent the apartment.