4 Tips For Snagging A Great Apartment With Bad Credit

If you live in a city with a tight rental market, you may find yourself competing against many other prospective renters when you apply to live in a place like Meadowdale Apartments. If you have less than stellar credit, you may begin to feel hopeless and wonder if any landlord will choose your application when they can instead rent to someone with a higher credit score. Luckily, there are specific things you can do to boost your chances of snagging the apartment you really want, even with bad credit. Here are four ideas:

Come Clean

If you apply for an apartment and the landlord says they are going to run a credit check, take this opportunity to be upfront about your lower credit score, either in person or in an email. Explain a bit of any extenuating circumstances that caused your credit to take a hit (a period of unemployment or a divorce, for example) and mention that you are working hard to repair your credit. Your potential landlord will most likely respect your integrity and be less surprised by any negative information that pops up on your credit report.

Have Landlord References Handy

Landlords are reassured when they hear from fellow landlords that you have been a model tenant and paid rent on time. Instead of just handing over phone numbers, ask a couple of previous landlords you have a good history with to write a short, positive letter of reference for you, then include these letters with your rental application.

Save Up Extra Money

It can be worthwhile to take a bit longer to look for a new apartment and save up as much extra money as possible in the meantime. This may mean working a part-time job on the weekends, freelancing on the side, or living with family for free or reduced rent for a while. If you have a good cushion of savings you can easily offer to pay a larger deposit or even pay a few months' rent in advance to give your potential landlord more incentive to choose you as a tenant.

Find a Place Through Friends and Family

You may have better luck finding a less stringent landlord if you go through informal channels. Let your friends and family know that you are seeking a rental and what your budget and requirements are. If someone you know well happens to know of a place and recommend you, the landlord may skip over the formality of a credit check or place less emphasis on its importance.

By following these tips, you can help ensure that you get a great apartment even while you're working on repairing your credit.