Tenant Screening: public records?

[Michael Maliszesky]

I'm Currently screening tenants for the first time. I plan on using a service to help,  but I want to dig up as much useful information I can find for free online. 

On a video I heard about "searching the public record." My question is, how do I do that? Do I look at state, city, county court websites? What exactly should I be looking for?  If someone had an eviction filed can I find that free online? Can I find information about a divorce? Is public record national or state ? 

What do you look for online when screening tenants?

My property is in Virginia Beach. 

[Dawn P.]

Look them up on VA courts. I also Google potential tenants and check to see if they have a Facebook or other social media. People post all kinds of stuff online, I found out one of my tenants was fostering kittens (didn't bother to run that by me) and another had a huge dog that wasn't approved.