I need a good tenant screening service...

[Phoebe Hodges-Carter]

Okay, so I'm taking applications on my rental and at first I thought I was going to use SmartMove for my tenant screening services because the price is right and it seemed easy.  That changed for me after the first one.  While the price for a credit and background check is reasonable, SmartMove requires the applicant to respond to a link sent to them via email authorizing the check to be done.  I had the signed application in my hand when I purchased the report.  This resulted in the check not being completed until 3 days later when the applicant finally went in to check their email.  I don't like this process.

Can anyone suggest a service that is $35 or less.  I've charged the applicants $35 and I think that's high enough.  Some of my applicants are low income and many get taken advantage of.  

Thanks for your input

[Michele Fischer]

Phoebe, we ran into the exact same issues with our low income applicants.  We were wasting a huge amount of time going back and forth with applicants on e-mail woes, it's just not as easy as it seems like it should be.

You might want to check with your state or local real estate group.  Our Washington State Landlords Association has an in house screening service.  It was $15, it has gone up to $20, which is still a great value.  They have a one page application that the tenant signs and we fax in.  We supplement it with a few extra pages of application,

We were disappointed that it was a slower response time, up to two days and always many hours.  We discovered it is because they were doing wider searches and making more phone calls, and it takes time.  We still phone landlords and employers ourselves, we want to dig as deep as we can.  I also immediately send letters to the owners of prior addresses (from assessor website) where I can't immediately reach the landlords; I have gotten some great messages back (phone, e-mail) in time to take action on.  We let applicants know that it will take a few days to get back to them.

Best of luck!