MAKE SURE YOU DO YOUR HOMEWORK ON THE TENANT TO KNOW WHO IS MOVING INTO YOUR PROPERTY!

Would you give the keys to your car to a complete stranger?

If the answer is NO then why would you give the keys to your investment property to someone that you know absolutely nothing about?

If you don’t do any screening of your tenants prior to move-in then you are asking for trouble. You can screen your tenants by any or all of the following methods

Verification of employment for every adult living in the property
• Credit check
• Dispossessory (eviction) check
• Criminal background check

Example:
If you have applications from two possible tenants, one has never been evicted, and the other one has been evicted twice in the previous 3 years, which one would you select?

What if one tenant has changed jobs 6 times in the past 3 years and the other one has
been employed at one company for the same timeframe, which one would you select?
Insider Tip:

 

Goverment-Records.Com
Is a great resource, for Credit and Background Check.
Need to find a phone number this site does it all. You could also use it as a resource to find those hard to find  vacant property owners. Cha Ching.
Example:
What if one tenant had 4 charged off collections on their credit report and tax lien, and the other tenant had a low credit score with just 4 trade lines that all show on-time
payments, which tenant would you select?

Tenant screening can help you choose the right tenant
for your investment property.

Our first investment property we purchased was a duplex that was fully rented. It wasn’t until several months later that we had our first vacancy. We promptly posted a sign on the property and immediately attracted 5 applications from other tenants on the same street that wanted to move into our building because they could see that it was well maintained.

After showing the property to all 5 applicants, my partner and I were really keen on a young couple that made a great impression on us. At this time, we had never really had to conduct a formal tenant screening and we were ready to accept the application based on outward appearances. We decided to do a dispossessory check just for the “learning experience” and much to our surprise we discovered this couple had been evicted from 5 properties in the past 4 years and they were in the process of being evicted from the building across the street from ours. From this point on, we decided that we would definitely screen all tenants. We strongly recommend that you do screen all tenants.

There are multiple sources for performing tenant screening. There are multiple services on the internet that will allow you to pull a prospect credit. American Apartment
Owners Association offers this and many other related services. We recommend that you charge an application fee that will be used to offset the cost for your tenant screening.
                                                   This fee should be non-refundable and
                                                should be collected in cash or certified funds –
                                                NO CHECKS!
Although Tenant screening is not fail-proof, it will prevent many problems you may face later. Why just depend on dumb luck as a basis to screen your tenants!