Best Tenant Screening Service for Rookies

[Brad Crumpton]

Wife and I just got into the game last year.  I want good reports for criminal & eviction history.  I'd prefer to get their email and just send them a link rather than filling out a paper application.  What are my best options for good reporting?  I read the sticky, but it's 7 years old and I'm not sure if those companies are still the best option or not.

We only have 2 properties, so i'm not looking for anything with a monthly fee.  Looking for pay-per-use service.   

Thanks in advance.

[John Warren]

@Brad Crumpton I have used both Cozy.co and Zillow for this, and I screen tenants a lot as I have a 58 unit portfolio here in the Chicago area. I am currently using a paper application again that I email to the tenant in Word/Google doc form. The reason for this is that I wanted to add some information to the ones that Cozy and Zillow used, and I didn't like that those had some information missing. I like the credit and back ground check services on both of these services just fine. 

Whatever you do, I think the basic screening advice here on BP is pretty good. Don't be like a lot of first time land lords and try to "take a chance" on someone. It happens more than you would believe, and the results are rarely good as you scale. I have found that credit is one of the best indicators of the three (credit, income, back ground).