Seriously, how many evictions?!?
Ah, yes, another round of tenant screening. On my applications I have the question: Have you ever had an eviction filed against you? Yes No
This one tenant, let's call her Jane Doe, filled out an application after seeing the house. She listed her monthly income as $5800. (This is for a $795/month rental, by the way.) This would be pretty impressive. (If it were true anyway.)
Well, this income is from self-employment so I ask to see proof of income and she gives me copies of her tax returns from 2009. Income ranges from $12,823 to $14,187 per year. So either she's hiding a lot of money from the IRS or she makes no where close to $5800 a month. (I'm going with the "cash under the table" theory personally.)
I check into her eviction history after the showings, because even though she said NO to the question about evictions, I still check.
Holy cow.
- Eviction filed 4/15/13
- Eviction filed 11/17/11
- Eviction filed 10/18/11
- Eviction filed 8/15/08 (damages around $2,000)
- Eviction filed 6/10/08 (damages around $2,400)
- Eviction filed 6/16/06
I didn't go any further back.
All in all, what a stellar tenant applicant!
Comments (12)
Whew! I hope she gets it together in the future, but I'm glad that's not going to happen in your property, Dawn. I wonder if the income number is a case of bad math or random guessing?
Karen M., about 11 years ago
Dawn A. - this is probably a dumb question, but how did you go about finding her eviction history?
Blake Anderson, about 11 years ago
How do they stay tenants?
Dawn Anastasi, about 11 years ago
I work at a property management company. We have tenants that pay consistently the day of eviction court.....every month.
Lance LaGrange, about 11 years ago
She had called me back to ask about the status of her application and I told her that I had selected someone else. She did not sound surprised. April Adams - these are eviction FILINGS not just evictions, so they could have not paid, had an eviction filed against them, then paid up at the last minute so that they could stay. Then rinse, repeat.
Dawn Anastasi, about 11 years ago
Fortunately I've only had 1 applicant like that but it was so blatant it was comical. If you are going to lie at least use addresses and employers that exist to make it slightly more difficult to detect.
Bill Wallace, about 11 years ago
I've seen a few of these too. How do they get 2 evictions within a few months of each other.
April Adams, about 11 years ago
Ahh . . . the <a href="http://www.biggerpockets.com/renewsblog/2011/06/02/landlord-screening-tips-professional-tenants-06211/">professional tenant</a> -- a favorite of experienced landlords, and the bain of landlords who aren't thorough. That's a Hall of Famer!
Joshua Dorkin, about 11 years ago
Me personally, I have never had to file an eviction. I only go with strong tenants.
Dawn Anastasi, about 11 years ago
Brilliant. Out of curiosity, what type of eviction rate are you getting up in Milwaukee?
Kenneth Estes, about 11 years ago
haha, these are really my favorites. Only because I feel completely relieved that I caught their lies before they moved in. I tell everyone who fills out an application that I'm just looking for the truth and that lies will automatically disqualify them...and they still lie! Amazing.
Elizabeth S., about 11 years ago
Very glad you didn't just rely on a handshake on this one :)
Mehran K., about 11 years ago