Landlord · Utica, MI · Member since 2015 · 190 posts · 99 votes
I just finished reading "The book on Managing Rental Properties" by @Brandon Turnerand i have some questions. Its a great book and I learned a lot from it but some questions were left unanswered. Mostly about qualifications and turning down applicants.
Like a lot of people in this forum say, he suggests, the basics like 3 times rent income, no felonies or evictions, That stuff is simple and easy to deny for. But he also tells us to watch for other stuff that has nothing to do with income or criminal record, like finding them on Facebook and finding stuff that you don't want in your place. How would you go about denying an application for a reason that doesn't have anything to do with finances or criminal record, but you have found other reasons (social media or what ever) that you don't want to accept them?
This is a good question. To be honest, I used to spend more time trying to dig up dirt on people that gave me a bad feeling. I stopped doing that because I felt it was putting me at risk of discrimination complaints. I now use an objective score sheet that awards points based on a review of certain criteria like length of employment, income:rent ratio, credit score, bankruptcies, collections, felonies, Landlord references, etc.
I run a score sheet on each applicant separately. If there is more than one applicant, their final scores are averaged. The final score determines if they are approved, approved with an increased deposit, or denied.
It's completely objective so I can't be accused of denying someone because of their race, gender, familial status, disability, facial tattoos, or whatever. There are still people that can pass my screening process and still turn out bad. It doesn't happen often, but it does. If I get a "gut feeling" that someone is trouble, I will keep a close eye on them and be ready to pounce at the first sign of trouble. I may even drive by or inspect their rental more often. But at least I can't be accused of discrimination in my rental procedures.