uklemond

Hi All

So today i have been looking over apartments in Boston, and am confused by one thing. Alot of the Ads state that they require good references and credit checks.

How will this work for me? I have not moved to the states yet as im still in the stages of the application, but my chances are high as my wife of 2 years is from the USA and we have recently had a baby girl who although born here in the UK has an American Passport also.
Tie this up with the fact that i work for a company that has an office in Boston and they are happy to sponsor my move there.

Anyways i digress. How can i provide good references, and how can they credit check me if i have no financial records in the states?

How will this affect my being able to rent an apartment?

Look Forward to hearing from you on this, as i have to admit im stumped.

tonrob

Firstly, welcome to BE and New England! We're out west but visit Boston a lot - and we love it.

Can't speak first hand about your question - we bought straight away when we moved 5 years ago. I reckon some landlords wouldn't be arsed with the hassle of looking at alternative credentials, but some might be willing to look at references from your employer and other things you might be able to provide. I wonder if anyone has had any luck showing UK bank references, maybe in conjunction with proof of funds in a US bank...?

Noorah101

It might be helpful to have your wife on the rental so they can do the credit check on her, instead of you (assuming she has US credit).

Rene

taffie77

When we were scouting around apartments, most places were happy to have my husband's employers to co-sign. These were all company managed building though, rather than private landlords. I think only one place would have required a larger than usual deposit.
In the end though, the management company here just took a copy of relevant parts of the visa petition - i.e. my husband's salary as they are used to dealing with people in a similar situation.

Giantaxe

Yeh, that's the route I'd try along with a reference and salary confirmation from the employer. As others have intimated, you may have more joy with rental management companies - who likely have experience in renting to people in this position - as opposed to individual landlords.

EricK

I was asked to produce letter of employment confirming salary, the realtor dealing with the letting contacted my HR dept, I was also asked to provide UK bank statements before they would go ahead with the lease agreement.

N1cky

I did a similar thing, we rented through a private landlord. I brought along hubbys employment letter, past 6 months UK bank statements and also mine and hubby's Experian UK Credit Report. Explaining that I had brought that as the US Experian Report has no history of us.

The realtor and the landlord were both perfectly happy with these.

Bob

Go private and they usually don't do a credit check, letter from employer usually works.

If you go through a complex or realtor, offer a larger deposit and it won't be a problem.

You'll likely be putting a first/last and between 1-3 months down on top as a deposit anyway.

HarryTheSpider

Bob - could you (or somebody else!) explain what is meant by 'first/last'?

Cheers

Harry

ian-mstm

It's quite common for a renter to pay both the first month's rent and the last month's rent up front. It ensures that when you leave tenancy, you've already paid the rent and don't end up stiffing the landlord.

Ian

Rockgurl

When I first moved to AZ I found my place from rent.com I did everything over the net and the keys were ready for me when I got off the plane. Easy as pie. I just provided everything they needed by fax or email.

Bob

Yup, so you've got to remember you don't have to pay that last months rent when you leave or it'll be you getting stumped. Unless the lease contract states that you pay it, and they refund it along with any deposit after both doing the check out of the place when you leave.