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Updated over 9 years ago,

User Stats

40
Posts
18
Votes
Kevin McGinnis
  • Investor
  • Glen Carbon, IL
18
Votes |
40
Posts

Tenant Screening for Tenants with Co-Signer

Kevin McGinnis
  • Investor
  • Glen Carbon, IL
Posted

I am close to the finish line of my first real estate deal. I purchased a HUD home, and spent about $30K fixing it up. It's finally ready to rent, and I put ads on Zillow, Trulia and Craigslist. Lots of response in the first 5 days-probably a dozen inquiries. Today, 3 female students (college town) looked at it with their moms, loved it, and said "we'll take it". First, I asked them to fill out an application, and will require each of the tenants to pay a $35 application fee, to cover background, criminal and credit checks. Each girl said no problem for their parents to co-sign, since they have not established credit yet. Here's my question: what type of background and credit checks do I run, and on who?

I'm thinking to do a background and criminal check on each student (to look for evictions or felonies) and a credit check on the parents, who will be guaranteeing the payment.  Also, each of the girls works while going to school.

Any ideas or suggestions.  I did not think I should run 6 complete background checks (one on each tenant & one on each parent), as it seems overboard.  Am I going about this the right way?  Rent is $1,200/month, and I've asked for 1st month, last month, and $600 security deposit.

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