HOUSTON APARTMENT FINDERS
Renting with a broken lease on record can be frustrating, but you can still find an apartment. Houston Broken Leases can help. We specialize assisting people with these special situations that make being approved for an apartment a really difficult challenge. We offer decades of experience. We will help you locate the perfect apartment that fits you and your family’s needs.
A broken lease is when a tenant abandons the terms of the lease agreement and leaves the property without landlord consent. When you break a lease, it can severely affect your tenant rating and hamper any chance of finding a good apartment in the future. Once it hits the landlord/tenant reporting databases, it stays on record for seven years. Because the landlord may also sue for the remainder of the agreed-upon rental amount, a judgment on the credit report soon follows. However, even if you have both of these stains on your record, you can still find a new place to call home.
SCORE REQUIREMENTS
Most apartments have credit score or FICO score requirements. Some are more lenient than others. Often apartments managed by the same company will have different policies from their sister or related properties regarding credit, broken leases, evictions, foreclosures etcetera. The lower the credit score the fewer apartments or landlords will approve the applicant. Applications are often initially denied then approved by either a manager or regional supervisor and approved. This often occurs if there are a large number of available apartments in the community. Having a good record of job stability and income pays a strong part in eventually being approved
Contact us today to see how we can help at NO COST to you!
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Fill out our request form. We’ll make your apartment locator search as stress-free as possible and most likely save you money on your rent. The more information you provide the better we can do our job. Our services are always FREE and we guarantee the Best Service to help you in your next apartment rental in Houston.
How to Improve Bad Credit So You Have More Apartments to Choose From in Houston
You might be surprised to know that not using a credit card can lead to bad credit. Credit companies like to see a pattern of payment of a portion of the credit card, with more credit available than you have on your card. So if you have a credit card of say $300 limit, and you owe $50, you should pay a percent each month, or hit the card for $50 and then pay it off each month. Then you’ll always have some credit available and you always pay on time. You can start small. Even small inroads into improving your credit score will help you in the future. But even if your credit seems beyond repair, we can still help you find an apartment. Our apartment-finding services are available for bad credit including evictions.
Here is a checklist first to understand how you got bad credit in the first place. You might think it is obvious, but credit can be influenced by a late library book your child checked out. Surprise! You forgot to return the library book, and the library can send it to collections. So the first step is to order a credit history so you can look at everything that is going on.
You may have faulty or incorrect information on the credit report that leads to dings. Or maybe you applied for too many credit cards in a short time when you were afraid you would be evicted. Each time you apply and it is denied, this will ding your credit rating.
As you educate yourself to turn things around, you can start to change your future because it can be different than your past.
Here are steps to improve your credit:
- Clear credit card balances that are more than 30 days old
- Start making small payments each month on credit debt
- Call each company and ask for debt forgiveness in return for removing the debt. Some companies will allow you to fund half the amount due to get something back, and then that debt will stop showing up if you are persistent.
- For any new credit cards you have open, keep at least 50% of credit available. No matter how much this is, it is the percentage that matters more than the dollar amount. For example, if you have a $300 line of credit at Home Depot, make sure you never go over $150 owed. If you owe $150 and you are afraid you will be late, pay $10. Pay some small amount each month.
- If you have some credit cards that are operational, ask if the limit can be raised but don’t spend to the limit. So let’s say you have that $300 credit at Target or Home Depot, ask to raise it to $500 but then don’t ever go over $250 owed. Think of it in your mind as “this is 50%,” so don’t even think about the maximum. Think about it like “I would never go over half.” This is going to help you a lot.
- Open your mail.
- Negotiate.
- Don’t be afraid of credit. Ask for it in ways that can be small. Have some credit cards that require you to have that much money in the bank to use. So a line of credit of $500 but you have $500 in the bank. That’s still going to help you if you only spend up to $250 and keep paying on time.
- Remember to put a % aside of every payment you receive towards savings. This can be a big challenge, but you want to change the eviction pattern now.
Turning Your Financial Reality Around
Make a commitment to yourself that you are willing to have a safe and consistent rental experience in your next home. Once we locate your apartment that accepts bad credit in Houston, you’ll need to pay rent on time to stay in it.
As you start to save money each month, begin to look at the future differently. You can get back up on your feet again. Paying rent on time will give you a great sense of self-esteem.
In the book “Profit First” by Mike Michalowicz, he tells the story of how his mom would pay the rent each month. She had about five envelopes she kept hidden. She had a rent envelope, an electricity and heat envelope, a food envelope, and a savings envelope, or something close to that. The rent envelope was taken out of each paycheck so that when rent was due, she had enough. Food would vary and sometimes there was a lot of spaghetti or Top Ramen. He even says they didn’t like it when she got a bonus because she loved liver! That was her treat when the month was good.
Whatever the system you need to put into place so you don’t have to have another eviction or broken lease in Houston, put those into place now. Start putting funds away from every paycheck so you can have a nest egg against creditors.