Hi Gregory,
I was searching to see what others do for a screening process because maybe I need to make mine more robust. ;-)
We've had these 3 units in service for about 18 months, 13 renters, with no other terrible renters. One renter lost $150 of her security deposit due to extra cleaning and damaged linens, but not a big deal, it was just a pain, nothing out of my pocket.
I use a standard lease for tenants, prepared by a lawyer. To keep in line with other listings for HCP rentals, I charge $250 cleaning and $350 damage deposit. I notice some areas are higher, but this is in line with what other units in my area charge. I allow pets with a non-refundable pet fee of $300.
I assumed the traveling nurses were professionals and would behave as such; until now, that has been the case. We screen heavily for our long-term rentals.
I have required a copy of the contract, and any non-HCP traveling along must do a background and credit check. I may require a background credit check for all tenants in the future, I'm on the fence about this as this market has gotten tighter in the last few months, and I had a vacant unit for 2 months (and there were lots of vacant units on FF), which never happened before. On the one hand, I don't want to discourage renters; on the other hand, I don't want to get in this situation again. I am thinking a landlord referral is probably a good idea.
The two renters I posted about were young CNAs. They couldn't come up with the initial deposits until they were paid. That should have been a red flag. These positions pay enough that they should have some savings. On the last month they had a BS story that one tenant had trouble accessing her bank account, so they paid a little more than half the rent. At that point I didn't want them to trash the unit, and eviction would have been more expensive than the $850 owed.
I would love to hear how other MTR landlords screen renters.
