All Forum Posts by: Samantha Decker

@Alaxic Smith Hello Alaxic,

Great question! As a landlord, you know that verifying your prospective tenant's income before signing the lease is a crucial aspect of background screening and can play a huge role in business success. There are a few ways that you can verify your prospective tenant's income...

Ask your prospective tenant to provide proof of income -- like a bank statement and recent paystub. In addition, it may be helpful to require that the applicant provides you with 2-3 employee references. That way you can conduct a quick phone call to ensure that the applicant's income and employment details are accurate.

In addition, you can use an Income Insights report, which is a report that analyzes income. Income Insights is a TransUnion SmartMove tool that uses data from the tenant's credit report to determine if their self-reported income is accurate. If it's not, then this may indicate that you need to ask for additional proof of income before signing the lease or move on to a new tenant.

I hope this helps and best of luck!

Sincerely,

Sam

@Charles E. Bruckman Hey Charles,

Congrats! I wish you great success as you begin your new adventure. 

It's great that you are starting to consider your tenant screening options, as this is a very crucial part of being a successful landlord. There is a wealth of online tenant screening options that are available for landlords, but I can speak solely to SmartMove. SmartMove is an online tenant screening service that provides landlords with a credit, eviction, criminal and Income Insights report. In addition, landlords receive a ResidentScore, which is a score that is specifically for the rental industry (15% better at predicting eviction risk than a typical credit score). With SmartMove you can choose to pay for the screening yourself or pass the cost on to your prospective tenant. 

All reports are delivered to your inbox in a matter of minutes so that you can make a quick and confident leasing decision! 

I hope this helps!

Best,

Sam Decker

@Ashley Sommer Hey Ashley!

I am glad to hear that you were able to connect with one of our support members and that the issue was resolved.

I see you are searching for a tenant screening background service and wanted to fill you in on SmartMove offerings and how the service may be of benefit to you. SmartMove is specifically designed for tenant screening and provides landlords with a credit, criminal background, and eviction reports. On top of these very crucial items, landlords will receive an Income Insights report which analyzes tenant income based on their credit behavior, that way you can determine if their self-reported income is accurate or if additional proof of income is necessary. In addition, you'll receive a ResidentScore, which helps predict eviction risk better than a typical credit score. Reports are delivered to your inbox in minutes so you can make a quick leasing decision.

I hope this is helpful and that you find a tenant screening service the suits your needs!

Best,
Sam Decker

@Markus Ried Hey Markus,

First off, good for you for taking the plunge and becoming a landlord -- I wish you great success! Secondly, I love that you are considering tenant screening options!

There are a wealth of tenant screening sites available, my favorite is TransUnion SmartMove. You can choose to pay for the screening yourself or pass the cost on to your prospective tenant. Either way, with a site as such you will receive a credit, criminal background, eviction, and Income Insights report and ResidentScore. All materials are FCRA-compliant and easy to read (which is perfect if you're just starting out!)! Also, my favorite part, SmartMove reports are delivered to my inbox in minutes -- so I can make a leasing decision pretty quickly! I hope this helps!

Best,
Sam Decker

@Jerry Pierce Hey Jerry,

First off, good for you for taking the plunge and becoming a landlord -- I wish you great success! Secondly, I love that you are considering tenant screening options!

While looking for a free screening tool might seem like the best route financially, I would encourage you to stay away from such tools, as often times the information is not up to date or cannot be used for tenant screening purposes. There are a wealth of tenant screening sites available, my favorite is TransUnion SmartMove. You can choose to pay for the screening yourself or pass the cost on to your prospective tenant. Either way, with a site as such you will receive a credit, criminal background, eviction, and Income Insights report and ResidentScore. All materials are FCRA-compliant and easy to read (which is perfect if you're just starting out!)! Also, my favorite part, SmartMove reports are delivered to my inbox in minutes -- so I can make a leasing decision pretty quickly! I hope this helps!

Best,
Sam Decker

@Philip Briskin Hi Philip --

First off, I want to thank you for using SmartMove as your trusted tenant screening service! I agree with @Nathan Gesner, for extra reassurance, you should always consider asking your prospective tenant for verification documents! 

Be well and be safe,
Sam

@Cameron Tope Thank you, Cameron, we appreciate the mention. As always, please let us know if you have any questions -- we are happy to help. Stay safe and be well!

Hello @Scott Johnson,

Thanks for the shout out and for using SmartMove as your trusted tenant screening service. We are glad to hear that you had a great experience! If you should have any questions, then please don't hesitate to reach out. We are always happy to help.

Sincerely,
Sam Decker 
SmartMove and Shareable for Hires Representative  

Hi @Andrew Erickson

One of my favorite places to compare rent prices is on Rentometer.com. Rentometer allows you to use filters so that you can narrow down properties that are most similar to yours -- which gives you a more accurate fair market result! I hope this is helpful.

-Sam 

@James Mc Ree Hi James!

Check out this blog, ResidentScore vs. Typical Credit Score, from TU SmartMove. It may be helpful!