About the Dallas Second Chance Team
We are a small team of licensed apartment locators who spend our days on the phone with DFW property managers. We learn their screening criteria so you don't have to guess, apply blind, or lose another $50 application fee to an automatic denial.
A 2nd chance apartment locator for renters who keep getting denied
Most of the people who call us have already been denied at least once. Some have been denied five or six times. They've spent hundreds on application fees at communities that were never going to approve them. That's the problem we fix. We call the property first, confirm what they actually accept, and only send you to places where your file has a real shot.
We aren't a call center. We aren't a lead gen website. We are licensed Texas real estate agents who sit across the table from property managers every week. When we tell you a community will work with your situation, it's because we already confirmed it.
the Dallas Second Chance Team
Licensed DFW Apartment Locators · Second Chance Specialists
Every person on this team has worked directly with renters who were told they would never get approved. We've sat with single parents who need to move by Friday, with workers relocating for a new job who have an old eviction following them, and with people rebuilding after a tough stretch who just need someone to pick up the phone and actually help. We are brokered by Spirit Real Estate Group (#562021) and we cover 3,000+ communities across 7 DFW counties.
- Dallas Second Chance Team
- Brokered by Spirit Real Estate Group (#562021)
- Over 20 Years Combined Real Estate Experience
How we work
Free to renters
The community pays our commission. You never pay us. No exceptions, no upcharges.
No judgment
Credit, eviction, background, no rental history, pets. We work every situation with dignity.
Researched criteria
We research communities so you have a higher chance of not wasting an application fee on a property that automatically rejects you.
Immediate rebate
$50 at lease signing on approved leases over $1,200. Not 2-4 months later.
What actually happens after you send us your situation
You complete the intake. We build the list around your specific details, then send it to you.
- 1
We read your file the way a leasing agent will
Broken lease with a balance is a different conversation from a broken lease that was paid. An eviction filed three years ago screens differently from one filed last spring. We sort out which version of your situation we're actually working with before we call anybody.
- 1
We read your file the way a leasing agent will
Broken lease with a balance is a different conversation from a broken lease that was paid. An eviction filed three years ago screens differently from one filed last spring. We sort out which version of your situation we're actually working with before we call anybody.
- 2
We ask properties the specific question
Not "do you take second chance." That question gets a useless answer. We ask whether they will consider a file with your specific item, at your specific age, with your specific balance status, and what they would want to see attached to it.
- 1
We read your file the way a leasing agent will
Broken lease with a balance is a different conversation from a broken lease that was paid. An eviction filed three years ago screens differently from one filed last spring. We sort out which version of your situation we're actually working with before we call anybody.
- 2
We ask properties the specific question
Not "do you take second chance." That question gets a useless answer. We ask whether they will consider a file with your specific item, at your specific age, with your specific balance status, and what they would want to see attached to it.
- 3
You get a list, usually inside 24 to 48 hours
Only communities where somebody has told us your file has a real shot. If a place says no, it doesn't go on the list. A shorter honest list beats a long hopeful one, because every name on a hopeful list is another non-refundable application fee.
- 1
We read your file the way a leasing agent will
Broken lease with a balance is a different conversation from a broken lease that was paid. An eviction filed three years ago screens differently from one filed last spring. We sort out which version of your situation we're actually working with before we call anybody.
- 2
We ask properties the specific question
Not "do you take second chance." That question gets a useless answer. We ask whether they will consider a file with your specific item, at your specific age, with your specific balance status, and what they would want to see attached to it.
- 3
You get a list, usually inside 24 to 48 hours
Only communities where somebody has told us your file has a real shot. If a place says no, it doesn't go on the list. A shorter honest list beats a long hopeful one, because every name on a hopeful list is another non-refundable application fee.
- 4
We tell you what to bring
A file that arrives complete gets a decision. A file missing a payoff letter or a court disposition gets a question, and the clock starts again. This is the part renters most often skip and it's the part that most often decides the outcome. Our document checklist builds the list for your situation.
- 5
We stay on it through move-in
Tours, the application, the follow-up when a regional manager sits on a conditional file, and the things nobody warns you about, like needing electricity live in your name before a Dallas community will hand over keys. And we don't disappear after sending the list.
What we cannot do
No locator can promise you an approval, and we are not going to pretend otherwise. What we can do is narrow the list to properties whose written criteria you actually fit, so you stop burning application fees on files that were never going to clear. Here is where that stops.
We cannot make a community change its criteria
If a property has a hard rule against evictions inside five years, that rule holds. What we can do is know which properties have that rule so you never pay to find out.
We cannot remove anything from your record
Texas court records are presumed open and there is no general expungement route for an eviction. Screening companies report a filing for up to seven years from the filing date, whether you won, settled, or moved out first. Anyone telling you otherwise is selling something.
We cannot guarantee a price or a deposit
Conditional approvals in DFW commonly add a higher deposit or a non-refundable risk fee, and the amount is set by the property. We'll tell you what to expect and we'll tell you which of the two you're being asked for.
We cannot promise every situation has an answer
Sometimes the honest answer is that a balance needs settling first, or that the price point has to move, or that a guarantor is the only route. We'd rather say that on the phone than take you through four application fees to reach the same place.
The seven DFW counties we work
Dallas, Tarrant, Collin, Denton, Rockwall, Ellis and Kaufman. That county spread matters more than it sounds, because an eviction record lives with the Justice of the Peace precinct where it was filed. Dallas County has five precincts and Tarrant has eight, and knowing which court holds your file is often the first step to getting a disposition in writing.
Dallas County: Garland, Mesquite, Irving, Grand Prairie, Richardson, Carrollton, Rowlett, DeSoto, Duncanville, Cedar Hill, Lancaster, Balch Springs, Seagoville, Farmers Branch, Addison
Tarrant County: Fort Worth, Arlington, Hurst, Euless, Bedford, Grapevine, Mansfield, Haltom City, North Richland Hills, Watauga, Saginaw, Kennedale
Collin County: Plano, Frisco, McKinney, Allen, Prosper, Celina, Wylie, Murphy
Denton County: Denton, Lewisville, Flower Mound, The Colony, Little Elm, Corinth, Highland Village
Rockwall, Ellis and Kaufman: Rockwall, Midlothian, Red Oak, Forney
Full list on our service areas page. Local detail differs more than people expect. Denton isn't even on the deregulated electricity grid, which changes how a move-in works there.
How we get paid, and the $50 rebate
You never pay us. The community pays a locator fee when you sign, which is a normal part of how apartment leasing works in Texas and is why our service costs you nothing. There's no upcharge, no membership, and no fee that appears later.
That only works if the community knows we sent you, and that part is on you. Tour first? Tell the leasing agent you are working with an apartment locator, before they write you up. Applying online? The form asks how you heard about the community. Pick Locator Service, Apartment Locator, or Realtor/Broker, whichever it offers, and put Spirit Real Estate in the name field. Skip either one and the community credits the lease to nobody. No locator fee, no $50.
On top of that, we rebate $50 to you at lease signing on approved leases. It comes out of what the community pays us. We say it plainly because it's the sort of thing that sounds too good to be true, and the reason it works is that we are paid by the property either way.
The broker relationship is disclosed on every form you fill out on this site, because Texas requires it and because you should know who you're dealing with. Upon approval you'll receive the lease verification and invoice from Spirit Real Estate Group.
If it helps to see the numbers before you commit to anything, our move-in cost calculator shows what a Dallas community will actually ask for at the desk, and the income calculator shows what they will screen you against.
Licensed, brokered, and verifiable
| Brokerage | Spirit Real Estate Group. Texas Real Estate Commission License #562021 |
| Verify the license | TREC public license search. Do not take our word for it |
| Professional membership | National Association of Apartment Locators |
| Ownership | Veteran operated |
| Licensed to serve Dallas since | 2016, with over 20 years of combined real estate experience on the team |
| Cost to you | Nothing, plus a $50 rebate at signing on approved leases |
Required Texas consumer notices: TREC – Texas Information about Brokerage Services and the TREC – Texas Consumer Protection Notice.
We pick up the phone. We learn your situation. We do the work.
Tell us about your situation. Within 24-48 hours we will line up a custom list of DFW communities ready to consider your application.
Get My Custom List