Rent Question

[ELBKnow]

I am moving to the Columbus area. Is it better for me to try to rent with trashed credit, or better for me to try to rent with a bankruptcy?

[empowered]

I'm a renter and was moving around a lot before and after filing a Chapter 13. Neither was easy. I suspect that it depends on the local market, what you want and who you rent from. In areas where the competition for housing is stiff you may not be able to avoid a credit check and many people who care about that judge people with poor credit and those who have undergone bankruptcy equally harshly. I've never liked the practice of credit checks for housing since everyone needs to live somewhere. I have preferred landlords who only care about evictions and your ability to find a decent job. But it's been harder for me to find those landlords as I've gotten older and the market, and my own needs, have changed.

Before my Chapter 13, I applied for a rental that was affordable for me and the landlord went on a more or less abusive tirade because of the balances I was carrying, even though I paid on time, had no evictions, and had a good job.

After the Chapter 13, an apartment I lived in years before, one where the manager recommended me as a good tenant who paid rent on time, refused to allow my return after a change to a more conservative management company.

I've found since then that private homeowners have been more forgiving of the Chapter 13. Knowledgeable ones know that there are limitations on filing repeatedly and that that protects them. It has also helped that many smaller houses aren't selling quickly these days and that owners have had to make some allowances, but that doesn't make my circumstances necessarily more stable. My current landlord was actually impressed by the Chapter 13 since it meant that I would be paying off all my debts instead of having them discharged.

I don't think I got good advice from my attorneys about what it would be like to be a renter moving around, as they knew I would have to do. When I asked them, they said only that I'd have to pay higher deposits. It was naive of me to accept their words to be true given the fact that I live in cities that have fairly to very competitive rental markets. I figure that when people have owned for enough years, they forget what it's like to rent or, at any rate, they're not paying much attention to it.

So, in my experience, it really varies. You should find out how strong the rental market is where you're moving and whether credit checks are near universal or whether it's possible to avoid them.

Good luck.