All Forum Posts by: Account Closed

Any landlord operating in an environment where Fair Housing laws apply should acclimate to the fact that whatever they feel in their gut should count for nothing and (unless they want to be on the wrong end of a discrimination lawsuit) should  have demonstrably zero influence on how rigorously an application is vetted. 

As long as you make sure that you can prove none of the applicants you approved made any of the slip-ups that you gave as a reason for disqualifying the applicant you rejected you'll never  have to worry about a Fair Housing Discrimination lawsuit.

That goes for gut feelings too.

The singular focus  landlords have with tenant sceening overlooks 2 very important things.

1. The intended purpose of an SSN - i.e the reason the government gives you one. It's not to support tenant screening.

2. By the time we  assemble an SSN and all the other things we demand from a tenant we have put ourselves in position to steal their identities.

So here is a list of things you can do without knowing  an SSN.

1. Look up a persons background in the court system.

2. Check their financial standing by looking at their bank statements.

3. Talk to employers and previous landlords.

4. Visit them in their home to see how they currently live.

5. Look at their paystubs.

In fact I'd argue that you don't even need an SSN to run a credit check. Personally if I've done the aforementioned I don't think running a credit check is going to tell me anything more, so here's what I do. 

1. I tell them the application fee is for running the credit check because we have to pay for it and I tell them  that if we reject the application before running the credit check we will refund the application fee.

2. I tell them I disqualify applicants who give me dishonest answers.

3. I ask them what I would see if I ran their credit.

For the information of others on the thread - you can have an SSN without being a permanent resident much less a citizen. I got one by being an international student on study abroad in the US.

If I were a tenant and had the sort of credit scores and backgrounds you are all asking for I wouldn't be renting from you, I'd be buying.

I would always try to visit a tenant in their current abode. How they live at the moment can speaks volumes more than what pieces of paper they can assemble.

I've said elsewhere I find punitive ($100 non-refundable) application fees abhorrent.

I have 3 SFH 3 bed rentals in Baltimore City under a group policy, each one costs between 550 and 600 to insure so please tell me how you insure yours for 300. Is that what they insure for in Mississipi?

For me there is no dilemma and it's a complete no brainer. No - and it's because  I am never under pressure to get in a tenant in order to pay the mortgage.

Hmmm I guess you have all been perfect throughout your entire lives and I wonder how many of you would pass your own criteria.

I rent to tenants in challenging neighbourhoods. I tell them their backgrounds will be thoroughly checked and all the areas that will be investigated before they apply but the only thing that will amount to an automatic disqualification is a past eviction. Everything else we will evaluate based on the circumstances and on a case by case basis.

I invite them to self disclose their baggage a priori - here's the deal. Tell me what my investigation will uncover and empower me (not you) to decide whether I can deal with it but anything you hide and my investigation discovers will automatically disqualify you.

Many of these people are struggling to make it. Everybody needs a roof over their head and although it does not necessarily fall upon me to provide it I think it's obnoxious to use an application fee  as a punitive deterrent to a person seeking the primary basic human need of shelter. Regardless of what mistakes people have made  in the past, only they, not you know whether they have changed. So I charge an application fee but if I find I am going to decline before running a credit check I return the fee.

Here's another reason to do that. $35 (or whatever you application fee you charge) is not worth acquiring someone with a grudge who now knows that I have a vacant property

It depends on how good you think you are at finding good tenants with your own resources and it will be influenced by the financial pressures you face.

The most expensive way to get a Real Estate license is by marrying a realtor :)

A little bit OT but I commented on that thread and have to bite on this one. I would not touch a $30k property if I could only receive $750 a month. My first property was a 20k SFH that needed $2k of work and came with a Section 8 tenant who was paying $928.