Strong income, imperfect credit
Plenty of renters with great jobs have a credit score that doesn’t reflect it: a medical bill, a divorce, a thin file after moving from abroad, a broken lease from a job change. The problem isn’t qualifying for a luxury high rise. It’s knowing which high rises before you spend $50–$100 on each application.
Credit is one piece of what we track for every Austin high rise we cover, alongside floor-level pricing, management quality and concessions. It’s an advantage we offer, not our headline. But for the renters who need it, it saves time, money and a lot of stress.
Screening varies building by building
Every tower sets its own criteria, and they change. Here’s what we track for each:
| Criteria | Typical range in our inventory | What it means for your application |
|---|---|---|
| Credit score minimum | 580 to 700+ | The same score can pass at one tower and fail across the street |
| Income requirement | 2.5×–3× monthly rent | Income well above the multiple can offset a lower score at some towers |
| Rental history lookback | 2 to 5 years | An older issue may fall outside a shorter lookback window |
| Broken lease / eviction policy | Varies from automatic denial to conditional approval | We steer you to towers that approve your history with conditions |
| Conditional approval options | Additional deposit, guarantor co-sign, guarantor program | A borderline file can be approved instead of denied |
| Screening provider | RealPage, Yardi, SafeRent Solutions and others | Different screening models weigh the same report differently |
Two buildings across the street from each other can treat the same profile completely differently. One applies a hard 680 cutoff. The other approves a 620 with 4× income and an extra deposit.
We never ask about credit up front
Our form asks about the building you want, not your score. Screening comes up privately after we’ve matched you on lifestyle and budget.
How pre-application matching works
- We match on what you want first: district, view, budget, bedrooms, move date.
- Then a private screening conversation: credit range, income and documents, rental history, anything a background check will show.
- We cross-check each building’s current criteria and drop the towers where you won’t qualify.
- We set the application order. One application where approval is most likely, with a guarantor program or deposit alternative ready if the building offers conditional approval.
The result is usually one application fee instead of three or four.
Ways to strengthen an application
- Higher income multiple. Applying at 3.5× or 4× rent instead of 3× changes conditional decisions. Lower-rent towers make this easier, which is why our affordable high rise list overlaps with this one.
- A guarantor. A family co-signer or an institutional guarantor like TheGuarantors.
- An additional security deposit. Sometimes required for conditional approval. A deposit alternative can soften the cash hit.
- Documentation. Paid-in-full letters, bank statements as a pay stub alternative, and a short written explanation of a past issue.
Read how to avoid losing application fees to denials before you apply anywhere.
