Resources for rental units.

So you used all the 'get credit quick' tricks they sell on those credit repair services and it didn't turn out great?

Sounds like you're going to have to move and find a new job if you have no one willing to take you in and are unwilling to do month-to-month at a long term hotel if you're untouchable with rentals.

That said when I got my first apartment way back in the day all I needed was not-bad credit + bg check + solid job history. Sounds like something is missing from this puzzle.

Zog said:

It's been 7 years since the eviction so everything has fallen off.

I have the income but I've only worked at my job for 3 months. That combined with the blank credit is a huge red flag.

I just want to know if anyone has used anything besides Zillow and CL for finding a place to live.

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Well that's good but what have you been doing in the meantime? Do you not have a landlord reference to use?

Zog said:

It's been 7 years since the eviction so everything has fallen off.

I have the income but I've only worked at my job for 3 months. That combined with the blank credit is a huge red flag.

I just want to know if anyone has used anything besides Zillow and CL for finding a place to live.

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Hotpads.com

Also, speak with a property manager, or you could outright contact a real estate agent. They may not handle rentals themselves, but they will have someone that works for their company that does.

That person will have a list of every rental (in the MLS) of a given area. You can tell them your monthly housing budget, and they can tell you exactly which places will fit the bill. It's pretty easy, and you'll never have to pay them a dime for the work. The owners of the property they help to rent out give them a small % of the monthly rental fee as commission for keeping the place rented. Win/Win.

EDIT: Here's a quick example of what a realtor's MLS system will show you. And if you talk to one of them, they can email you exactly what their search pulls up.

This is the MLS search window for rentals. You can tell it however many bedrooms you want as well as your monthly payment range. Then you can limit it to a certain area, or a large area if you're willing to travel at all. Then long term vs. short term or vacation rental... parking... you name it. Anyway, here's the screen.


This next screen is all 253 results that it pulled up for my search. I'm in a heavy rental area, so it's bound to be higher than what your search will result in.


And finally, selecting the MLS# link from any of those gives me this information, as well as pictures and all that. If a realtor emails you that information, you can go through EVERY property in your list until you find the place that best suits you. It's pretty easy. Notice the DOM/CDOM numbers on the top right. That's Days on Market (Cumulative Days on Market if someone was going to rent, but then backed out at the last minute). A higher DOM gives you more leverage as a renter. Maybe the price is a little too high, so in this case, it's gone 3 months without someone staying there. Maybe you could ask for an additional $50-100 off. Higher DOM makes the owner a lot more willing to negotiate because they're earning $0 while it sits not being rented.


Let me know if you have any problems.
Once you start speaking with a realtor, they can run your credit. There isn't much financial history involved with renting. Just being able to pay the deposit and first month as well as passing a credit check.

No problem. Good luck finding a place.

EDIT: Also, let us know how you make out. Now I'm curious.

As I've posted elsewhere, we just moved from California to Florida. Turns out, selling our house is significantly less stressful than finding a place to rent. It's absolutely nuts here.

First house we looked at, by the time we got to the house, we were told someone else had already put a security deposit down.

Okay, so we've gotta be fast. Second house we looked at had been on the market for a couple days, so instead we decide to apply for the one in the same neighborhood that just got posted the day before. My wife got a message saying that they had 3 applications before ours. Hopefully we get the $100 in application fees back.

There have been several houses we've called about in between those that by the time we called, they told us it was too late. That's probably been another 3 additional houses.

We're almost a week into it and it seems futile. Seeing a place before applying essentially seems like a self sabotage. I've never experienced anything like this.

We're going to hope that something comes up that we somehow see posted before anyone else and apply first. It sounds like they're just doing first application gets it, which pisses me off if they're going to keep my application fee (if you're going to take my fee and "run my credit," stop doing first come and do it based on best applicants). The whole thing is a shit show. I don't know how the rental market got so ridiculous.

Paying rent doesn't go on a credit report. Are you sure yours is blank? Mine was for a while, I was called a ghost, obvious red flag. Sign up for credit karma and see whats there. You might have something still and why no one wants to rent to you. You might also offer to prepay a few months to the home owner

Also, having only 3 months work history and no real landlord referral is more flags. Your friend probably isn't fooling them

Gravel said:

As I've posted elsewhere, we just moved from California to Florida. Turns out, selling our house is significantly less stressful than finding a place to rent. It's absolutely nuts here.

First house we looked at, by the time we got to the house, we were told someone else had already put a security deposit down.

Okay, so we've gotta be fast. Second house we looked at had been on the market for a couple days, so instead we decide to apply for the one in the same neighborhood that just got posted the day before. My wife got a message saying that they had 3 applications before ours. Hopefully we get the $100 in application fees back.

There have been several houses we've called about in between those that by the time we called, they told us it was too late. That's probably been another 3 additional houses.

We're almost a week into it and it seems futile. Seeing a place before applying essentially seems like a self sabotage. I've never experienced anything like this.

We're going to hope that something comes up that we somehow see posted before anyone else and apply first. It sounds like they're just doing first application gets it, which pisses me off if they're going to keep my application fee (if you're going to take my fee and "run my credit," stop doing first come and do it based on best applicants). The whole thing is a shit show. I don't know how the rental market got so ridiculous.

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$100 application fee? That seems like fraud. I can't imagine it costs them $100 to run credit and background checks.

I use Cozy.co for this as a landlord, which has applicants create an account and fill out all necessary info right on their site including having them pay for the credit and background checks directly. The application fee is $30 here in CT. I can't imagine it's $70 more in Florida for the same service.

Did you guys have to go through a similar process or did you just cut a check to the landlord/property manager? I'd be suspicious of any application process requiring the latter. But I guess in a hot market like that it's tough to be a discernible customer when you need a place to live.

Fair point wasn't considering that, but that still seems high to me. Almost double what I charge.

EDIT: Actually, COVID might be affecting prices too so maybe the price isn't as unreasonable as I first thought.

Yep, just checked and the price has gone up to $40 so disregard me.

Yeah, both myself and my wife. Sorry about that.

Our woes continue. Found one that popped up overnight. Put in the applications first thing in the morning ($93 total). Went to a Blue Angels practice and by the time we got back to the car, the property vanished completely. We can't get ahold of anyone at the company. Thinking we'll have to do a charge back.

The frustrating part is we still don't have a place to live though. I don't much care about the $93 except in principle, but I'd really like the fucking secret to how you get a house rental here.

Edit: For fucks sake. They did call me back finally. Apparently they posted it yesterday evening and had 9 applications in that time. They didn't even process our application much less run our credit. She said she's never seen anything like this before.

Our company moved down to Florida last year around May and since Day 1 we've struggled finding apartments/houses for any new hires from out of state. One apartment complex here alone has a 2 year backlog