Here's a detailed guide on how to screen applicants: Application Screening Guide

My wife and I use Avail to find, screen, and manage applicants.

If you set standards and stick with them, you'll catch shenanigans like this.The policy should be that every adult passes your screening, period.

List all the mistakes you made, from screening to accepting late rents. 

As a screening tool, I ask for proof of funds before we bother a tenant and show the property. 

Use the top three or four discriminators so applicants can screen themselves.Then you need to have clear screening criteria yourself.

Quote from @Brandon Weis: As a property manager, I know we do a lot more than collect rent and post notices: Move-In and Move-Out InspectionsProperty ShowingsRoutine InspectionsTenant Screening and InterviewsMaintenance and RepairsVendor ManagementHandling EmergenciesNeighborhood RelationsLease Violation ManagementCurb Appeal and Landscaping ChecksI opened in a new market (just 30 miles away) about six years ago.

Landlord’s only option to collect funds for damages is to take tenants to court.More and more tenants are only having a portion of their rent covered by S8, so landlords need to still screen S8 applicants for portion they must pay.Landlord cannot charge S8 tenants a portion of shared utilities – which can lead to the infamous tales of tenant retaliation against landlord by blasting heat on high with open windows during winter.S8 caseworker response times can be very slow, as they are usually overworked & underpaid.Again, overall it’s a pretty good deal for a landlord that does some decent screening.Exposing Section 8 Housing | Tenants From hell 243 - YouTubeLiberals Blame this Eviction on Landlord Despite the Before & After Footage | Tenants From Hell 241 - YouTubeMy first Baltimore buy & hold investment - SOLD (Lessons learned) (biggerpockets.com)Besides MANY self-labeled "gurus" exaggerating their success, many of them just supply readily available info.If you're too busy to find the info and are willing to pay for it, no problem as you accept their time vs money solution.REGARDING S8 GURU ISSUES SPECIFICALLYMost of them don't share all the facts about how Section 8 actually works.They claim you can get HIGHER rent from S8 tenants vs private-paying tenants.Why would the government allow our tax dollars to be spent this way?

Go to GET STARTED > EVENTS AND MEETUPS at the top of your screen.

In retrospect, some yellow flags found by the property manager during the tenant screening are now bright red flashing sirens, but the tenant showed decent credit, had a positive previous landlord reference, wrote a charming cover letter in his application, and applied through the referral of a reputable real estate agent.