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Updated 6 days ago on . Most recent reply
- Real Estate Broker
- Cody, WY
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Landlords - Screen your applicants!!!
I love living in a small community!
One year ago, I was hired to help a landlord whose tenant had stopped paying. He rented to her without any screening. She had a lot of lease violations, late rent, etc. When he came to me, she was three months behind on rent, and her unauthorized dogs, cats, and roommates had caused about $4000 in damages. I was hired to get things back on track, but she wouldn't play ball, so I filed for eviction. She moved out a few days before the court hearing, so I canceled the eviction and sent her to collections for nearly $13,000.
Fast forward 10 months. I'm contacted by another landlord in the same town who needs help with a problematic tenant. He mentioned some of her behaviors, and I asked if her name was XXXXX YYYYYY.
"How could you possibly know that?" he asks.
I gave him the background, and he admitted he didn't do any screening on her.
She will get a nice surprise next week when I show up at her door to (a) announce that I am her new property manager and (b) notify her that I will update her information with the collection agency she's been hiding from.
Screen your applications, people!
- Nathan Gesner
Most Popular Reply
- Real Estate Broker
- Cody, WY
- 41,147
- Votes |
- 28,122
- Posts
Quote from @Nick Rutkowski:
@Nathan Gesner for the beginner guys who are going to read this post. What methods would you suggest to screen potential tenants?
Read a book, or even a blog like this one: Application Screening Guide
If the landlord had called the previous landlord (me) they would have immediately denied her.
"What if she lies and claims to have owned a home, or uses a friend's address instead of the rental address?"
Run a credit check, which will include her address history and the dates she lived at each one. When the credit report addresses don't match her application, you deny her and move on.
Any landlord running a credit check on her after 05/01/2024 will see her credit report has a $12,000 collection from a property manager, and that should be an automatic denial.
- Nathan Gesner