What to bring when you apply

Everything on this page, gathered before you start, and the application takes a few minutes instead of a few weeks.

Nothing here is a trick and nothing is hidden. This is the same list our staff works from. You do not have to give us your email to read it and there is nothing to download.

For every adult, every time

Everyone 18 or older who will live in the home fills out their own application and pays $25, whether or not they sign the lease. So each of them needs their own copy of this list.

A government issued photo ID. A driver's license, a state ID card, or a passport. It has to be current.
Your social security number, or your ITIN. Either one works. We take an ITIN.
Proof of income dated in the last 30 days. Recent pay stubs are the usual thing. An award letter works for benefits, disability, child support or retirement. Older than 30 days and we have to ask again, which costs you days.
Your employer's name, address and phone number. For every job you want counted. We call them, so a real number for a real person saves the most time of anything on this page.
Three years of where you have lived, with no gaps. Addresses, dates, and the landlord's name and phone number for each one. Fill in the stretches where you were not paying rent too, staying with family included. A gap stalls the file.

If you work for yourself

Your most recent tax filing, with your 1099s. What we are looking for is business profit, not what came in the door.

If you started your job in the last four months

Your previous employer's information. We look for 4 months at your current job. A move into the same line of work counts if the two jobs together add up to 4 months.
Or your certificate or degree, if that is what you just finished. For a program longer than 12 months, related to the job you are in now: the certificate or degree with the date on it, the name of the program, and proof you were hired or your first paycheck.

Two things that are not documents

A pet profile, even if you have no animal. Every applicant completes one at strongblocks.petscreening.com (opens in a new tab). It is free for a household with no pets. Skip it and the application is not complete, and it will sit there. It is also where an assistance animal or a support animal is handled, and those are not charged as pets.
A co-signer, if you have signed a lease for less than 12 months. They fill out their own full application, pay their own $25, and have to be approved too. Better to know that now than at the end.

Two things worth clearing first

A past due gas or electric bill. More than 90 days behind with nothing in place will hold you up. Any of these fixes it: bring it current, pay it off, settle it, or make the first payment on a payment plan. This is whoever your provider is, here or in another state.

Anything you would rather explain than leave blank. If we cannot verify what you told us we have to deny it. We would much rather read an explanation than find a gap.

Then read what we look at before you spend anything. It is the page that keeps people from paying $25 to find out something they could have known for free.

See homes available now How applying works

The full written policy is on the approval criteria page, and you can print it.