Investor · Grovetown, GA · Member since 2016 · 20 posts · 2 votes
Which sort of resource do you guys/gals use to look up your tenant's credit score, rental histories, and past crimes/evictions?
Also, any other things you've learned to screen for in your experiences? Any tips on finding "the best!" tenant? Any big red flags you've noticed pop up with people over and over?
Last question, is the application fee typically supposed to cover the credit checks?
MySmartMove by Transunion is a very reliable screening tool. In addition I would recommend calling their past 1-2 landlords and ask how they were as tenants. Did they pay on time? Did they leave the place in good condition? Did they lose any of their security deposit? Would they rent to them again?
Look in their car to see if it's a mess, likely their house will be the same.
Be wary of people looking last minute.
Yes, the app fee should at a minimum cover the credit check.
I've learned it's better to wait an extra month (although sometimes can be painful sitting on an empty property) to get a more qualified tenant than to take a chance on a tenant you know really isn't qualified. An eviction, or even just damage and them not paying their last month or two of rent, is more costly.
Hi Raymond Atzbach ,
I'm don't own any properties yet, but I currently work for a decently large management company. We go through creditbureareports.com for credit and criminal record searches. We don't look at the applicant's actual credit score, but we don't allow for anything to be in collections except medical or school bills.
We look for past evictions and bankruptcies as well. We also check their resident history for the previous 5 years and we require proof of employment. Gross income has to be 3.4x rent. The property I work at is 402 units and we are 98% occupied. If we aren't as full we lower the income req. to just 3x rent. Our app fee is $75.
These requirements may be too strict or too lax depending on you're area. The higher the demand in your area the more strict you can be. This is just how we do things and we tend to get pretty high quality tenants. Our turn times on vacant units is about one week because the tenants usually leave them in such good condition.
Hope this helps!