If you hire a management company they handle all the legal issues and screen the tenant for you and charge a minimal fee, that varies by location so discuss this with them.

If it costs you more, that's part of doing business and you'll hopefully learn to screen better and create stronger policies and procedures to handle problem tenants in the future.

Screening is critical in any market, but more so in Detroit.....

I had a first phase to screen applicants before the viewing date (tomorrow).

@Brian Dickerson IF its a B type property/area, I would still screen well and do not get desperate.

Hey, what do you guys think about my Preliminary Tenant Screening Form.

Do companies allow landlords to have a more hands on approach (In the interest of saving the landlord money) by letting the LL manage simpler tasks  (collecting rent, managing repairs) while the Company manages more complex tasks  (tenant screening, evictions, handling other legal stuff )?

I'd like to begin doing the same, but my concern is that many banks don't support 'screen-scraping', and they warn customers not to give softwares access to their bank logins.

Finding a good tenant is never a guarantee but you can dramatically reduce the risk by screening them.The same is true of property managers.

Hi,Zillow has a online rent payment system. it is free and you can do tenant applicant screening too for $29.