tips for finding rental after bk?

[PDXbk]

Hurray! http://www.bankruptcyforum.com/images/smilies/yahoo.gif
My wife and I just received our discharge! We had a painless experience, even filing without an attorney. Our trustee turned out to be quite helpful and responsive to email questions, and in the end everything went as planned (thanks to Nolo Press's "How to File for Chapter 7 Bankruptcy," which we used as our bible in filing.

BUT - now we have to find a new place to live and we're worried that the BK will make it tough. Anyone have any tips that might make landlords more likely to rent to us? One complication: I'm self-employed. But we have about $10k in the bank, which should help.

Thanks!

[bkfiler]

congrats on your discharge! whoo hoo!

there is no tips other then call the manager and explain that you filed bk and that its completed. be upfront and see what they say. keep a list of who works with bk's and visit their site.

its no big deal. they either will work with you or they wont. they already know the rules. if they dont then stay away from them. they will simply require a larger deposit upfront instead.

[FilingOnMyOwn]

Most apartment complexes do credit checks these days. But thats not necessarily a bad thing, who wants to live in a cramped and overpopulated apartment complex, with crappy lease terms and stupid rules. Theres plenty of rental houses, smaller apartment bldgs etc, where you'd be dealing directly with the owner of the property and not some real estate corporation. Your average landlord will ask for a few references of course. And paying 1st & last months rent + security should satisfy almost any landlord as far as your employment situation is concerned.

[BassBoy]

FOMO, Good points. My wife and did some looking right after we filed just to get an idea of what's out there. At first, we looked at apartments because there were so many available. But you're right, who wants to be cramped up like that, especially if you have kids (I have 2 boys). Point is, that the few we looked at wanted us to have our discharge first, and then we could apply. Don't know weather or not they'll actually apporve you or not. We're not interested in an apartment, so I haven't persued it, unless it comes down to crunch time and we have to get out of the house.

Then we thought about renting a house. In my experience....and this is my experience only to share with you......we had to find someone willing to work with us. It's was a little more difficult to find these homeowners because they'll most likely with pull your CR as well. The few homeowners we spoke to seemed to be turned off once we told them we were BK. You get a weird reaction from them.

My wife and I have gotten lucky and we have found a homeowner who is willing to work with us and as long as we feel confident that we can pay, then we can have it. Oh, BTW, we don't have our discharge yet.

[bkfiler]

its a numbers game. tell them up front that you have been discharged and you now have a fresh start. explain that you have no problems paying you bills (try not to giggle) and tell them you have the cash deposits and first months rent ready to go if you can work out an agreement.

but you have to know ahead of time, so you dont waste your time, if they accept people with bk on their record. if they hem and haw then walk away.

ask many, ask often. its a numbers game.