Rookie needs advice for tenant screening in C class neighborhood.

[Robert Hanson]

Hello BP,

This is a hit to my pride to post, but I need advice. I completed my first rehab to rent in July of last year. It is a quadplex and all units were rented until recently. I just had my first eviction and, needless to say, it was messy. I enlisted the help of a buddy who has several rentals all over town and has done very well with them over a period of about five years. However, it appears the screening was not done well enough. His properties are not in the same area as mine, which is in a C- neighborhood. The tenant just evicted also owed about six months of gas payments. For whatever reason, she put the electric in her name but not the gas. A second tenant is also now very late on rent and likely will get evicted as well. As such, I had to take things into my own hands and do some research with PM books and here on BP. The following is a list of screening rules that I’ve set. Please critique:

-Deposit Requirement: $1000.00. Purpose is twofold: additional protection against losses, and helps to ensure we have tenants that keep some money in the bank.

-Full tenant screen on mysmartmove.com. $40 application fee to cover screen and includes a resident score based on: credit, background check, credit report, eviction report and income insight.

-Income 3x monthly rent, no exceptions.

-Credit score over 600.

-Late medical bills, student loan payments ok as long as attempt is being made to pay. Late utility, credit, personal loan, auto loan etc. are no-go because the tenant is not able to pay or prioritizing living expenses.

-3 references from past landlords or work supervisors. No friends and family.

-No felons/sex offenders/judgements/liens/collections.

Also, regarding the tenant that just got evicted and the one that is likely getting evicted: is it worth filing in small claims court or turning over to a collections agency?

Love to hear from @Peter Lohmann . I’ve read some of your posts and understand you are in Columbus as well.

Thanks all for your time.

Spenser