Tenant screening and leases

[Chris Hayes]

Starting out, how do you go about tenant screening and writing up a lease? I'm wanting to get into long term investing and want to select good tenants. How do you go about getting a potential tenants credit score, rental history, etc? Also, in regards to a lease, does everyone type out their own lease or are there templates you can use and just customize?

[Amber Matas]

Hi there! I use smartmove by trans union to check background and credit. You can set the criteria to be more or less stringent (I make mine more stringent). Some of the things I ask for include copies of DL, pay stubs, past rental references, proof of renters insurance, and copies of vaccination/rabies certificates for dogs (after I’ve met their pets). I have a minimum credit score of 650 and make sure that the income is 3x the rent. I also use EZlandlord for my forms. I’m sure that others have different criteria they work with or other suggestions but this is what works for me. I have really good, long term tenants in my properties. But this was all learned the hard way about 15 years ago when we bought our first property. 😊Goodluck!