All Forum Posts by: Wes Eaves

 Too many out there attempting to operate without a clue.

I don't see it as beating a dead horse, I see it as educating.

@Yinan Q. - Not currently, however I believe that's in the works.

Thanks for good suggestions!!  

Last time I listed this house for rent, I tried several different avenues; craigslist, San Jose Mercury News, and another avenue that I don't remember.  The only one that returned any results was craigslist.  I didn't list the address, just general area (south of Santana Row).  When people responded, I gave them the address and appointments to come by, all on the same day.  The one thing I'm going to do differently this time, is pre-screen applicants before inviting them to view the house, as discussed in at least one article on this site; that sounds like a simple process.  And I'll renew my account at SmartMove, that was a really simple way to handle a final check of prospectives.

Just in the fact that a representative took the time to handle this problem shows the integrity of the company! I have never heard of SmartMove but am at least intrigued to check them out for screening in the future.

I used Smartmove recently and was unhappy with the results. I did a background check on a potential tenant and everything seemed to check out. It told me the tenant had some open collections but no evictions and no criminal record. It gave me a low acceptance recommendation and I doubled the security deposit and required first and last months rent. I received one months rent payment and he hasn't paid since. A friend of mine is an attorney and handling the eviction, he looked the tenant up and found 2 evictions. I looked the tenant up and found the evictions and criminal stuff myself right in public records. Maybe this is an issue specific to Pinellas County but I don't know why Smartmove didn't catch it. It doesn't leave me feeling good about using them in the future especially considering tenants could have lived anywhere and checking my county alone doesn't help. Anyone have great experiences with another company?

@Corey Westermann

We have certain properties where we have waiting lists and always receive multiple qualified applicants when a unit comes available.   Of course, we have the other kind of unit as well - where you put out an advertisement only to hear crickets.   It's the location.

In the area where we have the oversupply of qualified applicants we will first try to redirect them to another {soon to be} available unit of ours.  We also maintain good communications with other landlords in the same neighbourhood and will send our overflow to them  [It builds good relations and we have first option on a couple of properties as a result].

You could always "what if" until the end of time....

If you don't care, then why run their record prior to taking them on as a tenant?  What if that felony that they have just been convicted of requires them to register as a sex offender?  I would like to know that before I go to the house to make a repair.