Renting after Bankruptcy

[StaciMM]

That is good, if you like the schools! For my sister, part of her issue was wanting to get out of the school district her kids were in! I'm just a little annoyed with her because she is annoyed with me that I won't ask my FIL to borrow his truck. Don't rush into something and then complain about it!

[BassBoy]

That is good, if you like the schools! For my sister, part of her issue was wanting to get out of the school district her kids were in! I'm just a little annoyed with her because she is annoyed with me that I won't ask my FIL to borrow his truck. Don't rush into something and then complain about it!

My wife and I are defiantely loving the schools. My oldest has a slight comprehension problem, troubles with sounding out words and also has a hard time staying on task and he gets easily frustrated. The school has been helping out ever since day one and what an improvement he has made. He is reading much better and is very proud of himself. He actually enjoys his schoolwork now. So, it's a real plus that we have the opportunity to stay in the same district. We fear that if we had to change schools, the extra effort to help him would get lost.

[Anassa613]

Well here in New York (brooklyn) It seems so hard to find an apt. Number one they want 900.00 for a studio. As I say NY is for rich people, Im a single mother and even though I make close to 30k thats still nothing. Most apts are with buiding management or realtors. I went to see this studio which I loved its 700.00 rent stablized and decent area. The company wants 1400 which is 1st months rent and security ok. But the agent wants 15% of the annual rent which is like 1258.00, So I would be paying close to 3000.00 just to get in the apt then the guy says oh you need good credit. Im so furious because Im stuck and that gets me very depressed. I work , and still nothing. I guess It isnt going to get much easier being that I filed chapter 7. What can I say?

[bkfiler]

you are right to think ahead. keep looking, try to get better pay, cheaper apt etc. its a life long struggle really. move if you have too.

[BassBoy]

Deal is done

To follow up on my recent posts.........WE ARE MOVING INTO OUR NEW PLACE MARCH 1ST!!!!! We were able to work with the owner of the house I've been raving about in this thread. Oh BTW, water, sewer and garbage pick-up are included in the rent (always was included.....didn't ask the guy at first). The owner is okay with our BK (actually, he doesn't check credit reports) and as long as we feel we can afford it (which is no problem), then the place was ours. We sign our lease agreement on Tuesday (01/31/2006).

[FilingOnMyOwn]

Well here in New York (brooklyn) It seems so hard to find an apt. Number one they want 900.00 for a studio. As I say NY is for rich people, Im a single mother and even though I make close to 30k thats still nothing. Most apts are with buiding management or realtors. I went to see this studio which I loved its 700.00 rent stablized and decent area. The company wants 1400 which is 1st months rent and security ok. But the agent wants 15% of the annual rent which is like 1258.00, So I would be paying close to 3000.00 just to get in the apt then the guy says oh you need good credit. Im so furious because Im stuck and that gets me very depressed. I work , and still nothing. I guess It isnt going to get much easier being that I filed chapter 7. What can I say?

Yeah new york sucks period unless you are made of money. I wouldn't even consider living in the city if I made anything under 100k, and I've never even made much over 30k in my life living other places. I grew up detroit and was having the same problems with money, couldn't have full coverage car insurance for less than $400 a month, etc. At least NYC has alot of public transport, but it can still take you hours to get where you need to go. Which is another problem, theres only so many hours in a day. So I moved to florida. I pay less for 6 months of auto insurance here than I've paid up north for one month. If car breaks down, its 75 cents to take the bus. 30 cents for the L-train downtown. I don't smoke anymore, but you can buy Marlboros for 2.50. A 6 pack of brew for $3. The only thing here you will pay as much as anywhere else is gas. Groceries tend to run half the price with the exception of meat and dairy products. Its like making a lil less money but only spending half as much. Moving might be a good idea for you.

[tired_of_debt]

renting after BK

I was just discharged on March 6 and will be moving back to my Indiana from Illinois in June of this year. I was lucky, I guess. I found a gentleman and his wife whose sole occupation is that of property management. They own several units in the area where I intend to move. I filled out the application, got approved and received the lease from him in no time. I was up front with him about my credit, told him I had a Chapter 7 and was working on cleaning up my credit and my act. He knows it all and is willing to take the chance. I have been late a couple of times with my rent in the past couple of years, but given the disastrous power bills and a variety of other disasters, I think I have done fairly well in that regard. Unfortunately, my other bills suffered as a result. I moved to Illinois to be with my significant other and that fell apart last year. I was left with a bunch of bills to pay that made things impossible. I had been paying 2 car payments totaling 900+ dollars from November of 2004 until July of 2005 in addition to 300-dollar (December shot up to 475) per month AVERAGE power bills and all of it including an electrical storm that cost me 500 dollars in out of pocket repairs, diagnosis of basal cell carcinoma and related medical bills, a washer that stopped working and a water heater that needed repairs put me seriously "in hock." While I am not proud of having filed bankruptcy, I am happy to be getting out from under the 530-dollar van payment (my personal vehicle is paid for after 5 years at 393 a month) and am starting fresh not only from the debt perspective but in a new place nearer family and friends. I searched for a long time before I found someone whom I felt comfortable with discussing my credit situation. As they say, bad things DO happen to good people. I just intend to make sure from this point on that the bad things that happen are not the result of MY actions.

Good luck.

[BassBoy]

Glad to hear your great news T.O.D. If you've read through this thread, then you know that my wife and I have had the same luck. We found an absolutely beautiful house (side-by-side) to rent (we surrendered our home in Ch.7). We have 3-bedrooms, 1-1/2 baths and a full basement. IMO, the place is nicer than the house we had. It's also bigger.

The owner didn't have a problem with our BK. Actually, I think he was either totally clueless about BK (which I highly doubt), or he just didn't give a rats a$$. He said as long as we feel comfortable being able to pay the rent, then we could have the place.

We have 2 children, so there was no way we wanted to be all cramped up in an apartment. Don't get me wrong here, the newer apartments are really nice and really spacious.........but for a family of 4, not suitable. Our place has enough room for all of us and we have a good size yard for our kids to play in. We have to maintain the yard, but I enjoy doing that anyways. The full basement is great because I can continue to play my drums and bass guitar (the other tenants can't hear them...........good sound proofing), my kids have a play area, we have an area with furniture and there is room for storage. We struck gold with this place.

We were also lucky enough to find a property owner that has done an impeccable job maintaining the house. Now, the property is only 9 or 10 years old and it didn't need too much, but there is new carpeting and flooring throughout (stain resistant and plush), new hot water tank, new A/C unit, new faucets and counter tops, freshly painted and all of the wood trim is stained. The place is beautiful. We've had a few visitors since we've moved in (on 03/04/06) and they were quite surprised at the place. I guess most people, and myself included, have a predetermined vision of what a rental property can look like (some people just don't care about what they own). Anyways, my point is that it's nice to have a place that someone has taken care of.

Best of luck to you T.O.D. and please keep us posted on how everything is turning out for you.

[mixxalot]

Good sources to rent after bankruptcy

I recommend looking on sites like craigslist (www.craigslist.org) since these contain smaller landlords with places to rent that are more open to rent to folks with prior BK.

That or rent a place as a room or shared arrangement with no credit check. Myself, I was able to have a place before my filing and just stayed until I am ready to buy a home or rent a room in a house to save more. Good luck.

[lrprn]

Mixxalot, please don't pull up old threads without new posts for several months to add comments - it's against our forum rules. Your observations are good ones, but in the future please start a new thread of your own to share them - thanks!

[ella154]

I was worried about renting also. I just moved into a house from an apartment complex. I decided to rent from a private owner b/c I figured they would be less likely to run a credit check, but I was upfront and honest and told all of the owners that I had filed and none had a problem. I do have a good rental history and have never been late with rent.

[tanya0525]

We found our rental on craigslist. We are surrendering our home in BK. We were upfront to the property managers/owner. They had abosolutely no problem with it. This house is 10 x nicer than our home. Three bedroom, 2 1/2 baths, 2 car garage, family room, two levels, on a culdasac, and one block from the lake. The best part is that it is $600 cheaper than what our mortgage was.

Tanya

[JJ888]

We found our rental on craigslist. We are surrendering our home in BK. We were upfront to the property managers/owner. They had abosolutely no problem with it. This house is 10 x nicer than our home. Three bedroom, 2 1/2 baths, 2 car garage, family room, two levels, on a culdasac, and one block from the lake. The best part is that it is $600 cheaper than what our mortgage was.

Tanya

This is my goal too Tanya.

[researchnerd]

We are seeking a new rental house closer to my job - currently I drive 50 miles each way. We found a nice house in the city in our price range, put down a deposit and signed a lease, but now we're waiting for the background/credit check. We don't have a ton of rental history and our foreclosure hasn't happened yet (almost a year after BK discharge), so it's anyone's guess as to whether we'll be accepted. I was very straightforward with the leasing agent about our bankruptcy, and she seemed to think that as long as our credit was good before and after BK (it is), we should be fine. It's not a major disaster if it doesn't happen, we'll just keep looking, but we do really like this house. Keep your fingers and toes crossed for us?