Problems with Tenants Paying their Rent (Despite Good Screening)

[Ian M.]

In invest in Pittsburgh and for the past 1.5-2 years i have had a horrendous track record of NON Paying tenants.  They either aren't paying on time, don't pay or just leave.  That is the one thing I didn't factor in.  I just got hit with a few maintenance issues and even a recent fine, but I factored things like that into my calculations.  What i hadn't figured in was the high amount of NON Paying tenants or ones that just leave mid-lease because i thought the PM screening would factor most (not all) of these tenants out.  I use a PM and I'm wondering if they aren't being diligent enough about following up with tenants as they should be and its costing me big time.   I invest in B/C areas as well.  Any thoughts on what I might be missing?  Or do most of you have similar issues with your properties?  I will say I have another rental in Cleveland that I have VERY few problems with in that same regard.  

[Kimberly H.]

Typically these days when employers verify income, it's in writing. Your PM sends the required documentation, and they fax something back. Ask your PM to see that documentation. If they try to tell you it's all over the phone or they don't have it anymore I would highly doubt that. Another trend is bigger companies outsourcing income verification to The Worknumber. There are extra charges and work involved then...which could lead to it not happening on the part of the PM.  Do they have 2 mo. paystubs on hand? We ask for that first from the applicants...and then verify with employers since their are fake paystub websites out there. Trust...but verify. With our first rental, before I was an agent, we had a real estate agent placing tenant twice in one rental. We just went through the documentation the other day and saw they placed someone with a collection FROM AN APARTMENT COMPLEX in our property. Never came up. I doubt they read it. Not that the person had a great score, it was 500-550, something like that. I would ask for that and the credit reports the PM pulled; they should have no problem doing so if they did everything they were supposed to. I hate to say it but I have run into a lot of people in the real estate industry who will bold face lie to your face no problem.  They keep trying to add more ethics classes to no avail...