Given your lack of experience, you need to stay away from D/C- neighborhoods and develop very strong WRITTEN vetting criteria and know how to implement it (not allowed to ask criminal history early in the process, etc.), AND implement it rigorously - sob stories need not apply.There is a very high failure rate among new landlords; you’ll find out why.

The layout of our site is unfortunately very attractive to criminals.

And a criminal case this week shows why you shouldn't mess around with this rule. 

It's only $29 for the applicant and they do credit and criminal background checks.Once you have that information, it's knowing what to look for in the reports returned. 

The information being provided in smart move is the same information that can be obtained from any standard credit report.Past addresses… Credit scores… account information, etc.The criminal background check is public information.

I went to RIT and got my BA in Business and Criminal Justice from 2010-2014.

I ran the Transunion SmartMove background check with credit report, criminal history, and eviction report and it came back clean, but had to reject two other applicants after their SmartMove scores came back low for low credit scores and numerous pre-eviction filings at local courts.  

I personally like to pull the background along with the criminal record and I still collect all my tenants SSN's.

I am telling them all the standard requirements before even seeing the unit, 3x rent, good credit, no criminal record and no evictions.Thanks 

Unless they're wrecking the property or engaging in criminal activity, a long-term tenant can be a blessing.