Do You Need to Have Good Credit to Rent an Apartment?
Now that I’ve moved over to Oregon, my family and I are in the process of determining where we should live. The housing market here seems to be on fire, and a home that would fit our needs will run upwards of $500K! Crazy!
Should I Rent or Buy?
So, the natural question came up of whether we should rent an apartment for a while or not. It would definitely save us money every month, but anything above a 3-bedroom doesn’t really seem to exist. Anyhow, because of some issue that occurred back two moves ago, one of my wife’s credit cards didn’t get the forwarding address. Fast forward a couple of months, and they started to ding her credit all over a $20 charge! So, her credit is not stellar like it should be.
What About My Credit Score Score?
That got me to wondering, do you need to have good credit to rent an apartment? After a bit of research, and checking out this great article here at RentCafe.com: What Credit Score Do You Need to Rent an Apartment?, it is pretty apparent to me that you do need to have a pretty good credit score in some of the bigger cities to be accepted.
You will also need a higher credit score if you are going to be renting from an higher-end building or unit. The average credit score in some of the larger cities is 680+. Holy cow! That will be a struggle for many folks to get a credit score that high.
What’s the Right Choice for Us?
For us, our credit scores should be just fine to land a nice apartment in this area or Oregon. There are not really super-upscale apartments here, so very high credit scores are probably not going to be required.
Although it is not going to be saving as much money, I think we will probably go with buying a home. This is because a 3-bedroom apartment is going to be too tight of a fit for 2 adults, 2 kids, and 2 dogs!
What’s the Right Choice for You?
If you’re in the market for an apartment and your credit score isn’t stellar, it pays to do a bit of research first. Check out that article from RentCafe.com for a bit more info as you get started on your renting journey!
