My sister and her boyfriend (they're engaged) are having trouble finding an apartment or rental house. Do you have any suggestions? Here are the details:
My sister currently lives with me (divorce situation), and her boyfriend stays here part of the time, and a motel the other part of the time (long story, but what happened wasn't his fault).
Both have filed bankruptcy in the last few years. I'm not sure why her boyfriend filed, but she filed because of she got in over her head with credit cards. Both have lousy credit, and my sister is getting into trouble with credit cards again. She denies it, but I see the mail that comes in (it's obvious from the unopened envelopes that it's correspondence from credit card companies in addition to monthly statements), and she's been getting collection-type calls.
They have three kids from their previous marriages. He gets his kids every other weekend; she gets her son every other week. The kids are fairly well-behaved.
They both work full time, but even though we're not charging them "rent" to stay here (just $50 to help with the power bill), much of their money goes toward child support, credit card bills, cell phone bills, homeschooling of one child, etc. He makes decent money; she's barely above minimum wage.
They've looked at several houses and apartments that they can afford. They are over-qualified for low-income apartments. They can't afford a regular apartment. So far, private individuals won't rent to them because of there being "too many kids" and/or because they're not married, making them "unstable" (as they put it). They're planning to get married as soon as they have a place to live. Many older folks in this little neck-of-the-woods are very "traditional" when it comes to their idea of what a "perfect family" is, and just assume that people who don't fit their mold would make bad renters.
They're non-smokers, non-party'ers, no pets, quiet, etc. And all three kids are seldom together at the same time. They would make decent renters, especially if she can get out of the credit card habit. And we can honestly give them a good reference without having to fib.
Unfortunately, time is of the essence. Our house just doesn't have the capacity for this many people, plus there are issues resulting from first/third-shift work schedules, lack of privacy, as well as some other things.
How can they make themselves more "appealing"?
And would they get in trouble somehow if they said they'd just gotten married, in order to secure the house/apartment, and then really get married a week or two later? Just a little temporary fib?
Other suggestions?
(Sorry this got so long.
)
My sister currently lives with me (divorce situation), and her boyfriend stays here part of the time, and a motel the other part of the time (long story, but what happened wasn't his fault).
Both have filed bankruptcy in the last few years. I'm not sure why her boyfriend filed, but she filed because of she got in over her head with credit cards. Both have lousy credit, and my sister is getting into trouble with credit cards again. She denies it, but I see the mail that comes in (it's obvious from the unopened envelopes that it's correspondence from credit card companies in addition to monthly statements), and she's been getting collection-type calls.
They have three kids from their previous marriages. He gets his kids every other weekend; she gets her son every other week. The kids are fairly well-behaved.
They both work full time, but even though we're not charging them "rent" to stay here (just $50 to help with the power bill), much of their money goes toward child support, credit card bills, cell phone bills, homeschooling of one child, etc. He makes decent money; she's barely above minimum wage.
They've looked at several houses and apartments that they can afford. They are over-qualified for low-income apartments. They can't afford a regular apartment. So far, private individuals won't rent to them because of there being "too many kids" and/or because they're not married, making them "unstable" (as they put it). They're planning to get married as soon as they have a place to live. Many older folks in this little neck-of-the-woods are very "traditional" when it comes to their idea of what a "perfect family" is, and just assume that people who don't fit their mold would make bad renters.
They're non-smokers, non-party'ers, no pets, quiet, etc. And all three kids are seldom together at the same time. They would make decent renters, especially if she can get out of the credit card habit. And we can honestly give them a good reference without having to fib.
Unfortunately, time is of the essence. Our house just doesn't have the capacity for this many people, plus there are issues resulting from first/third-shift work schedules, lack of privacy, as well as some other things.
How can they make themselves more "appealing"?
And would they get in trouble somehow if they said they'd just gotten married, in order to secure the house/apartment, and then really get married a week or two later? Just a little temporary fib?
Other suggestions?
(Sorry this got so long.
)
If you ask me really nicely; I see alot here. The marriage thing is not the issue at all.
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