Rental Property Prospective Tenant Screening

[freedomatlast]

I've been very fortunate to have extremely low turnover with my rental units. However, one tenant just left to go into a home after 34 years and after some renovation, I'll be taking applications for a new tenant.

I know things have changed a lot in the last couple of decades, so, if any landlords would care to share what they do to advertise the unit, what they do as a part of the application process, what sources or services they use to check credit scores and obtain other background information and/or any important clauses in the lease documents that they use, it would be greatly appreciated.

 

[NgineER]

34 years-wow!

I like apartments.com for listing, tenant screening and rent collection. Zillow used to be free, but I dropped that when they started charging, it might be free again.

I use rentometer.com to gauge the rents in the near area
I always meet prospective tenants in person because the way they keep their vehicle and own appearance says a lot about how they'll treat your property. I also require the prospective tenants to verify their showing time 30 minutes prior to the showing after having been stood up too many times.
I use the state judicial system website to look for any prior convictions or interactions with the law.

 

[freedomatlast]

Thanks, Ngine.

Anyone else?

 

[Sunset]

After 34 years, maybe you should get out of the landlord business. As you could end up with a streak of bad tenants.

That's my issue, my tenants have been in for 20 years, great tenants.
After they leave I'm selling as I don't want any horror stories on top of the anti-landlord political views now popular and influencing politicians.

 

[Koolau]

After 34 years, maybe you should get out of the landlord business. As you could end up with a streak of bad tenants.

That's my issue, my tenants have been in for 20 years, great tenants.
After they leave I'm selling as I don't want any horror stories on top of the anti-landlord political views now popular and influencing politicians.

Yeah, I think Covid was the last straw for many landlords. Tenants just mention Covid and then don't have to pay their rent - what a country! Can't imagine there are any landlords left but YMMV.

 

[rodi]

We just had a tenant turnover on our granny flat. Our previous tenants were there for 8 years and moved because they bought a house. New tenant is a fresh law school grad.

I used zillow/craigslist to determine current rent. We were charging significantly under market to our previous tenant - but they were good tenants. We upped it to market rate for the new tenant.

I used craigslist to advertise. That's the biggest rental advertisement market for San Diego.

Here's the document I put together for prospective tenants.:

Check list for tenant verification:
- Copy of W-2 from last year
- Copy of 2 most recent paychecks-
- Letter from HR, or phone number from HR to verify employment-
- Email address so I can send Experian connect credit check request. I need full name and email (not craigslist anonymized email) sent to me at xxx@xxx.com. I then send a request, through Experian, for you to purchase a credit report at your cost $19.95. You then share the report back to me. You are free to use this experian credit report with other rental applications.
- Current Landlord contact info to verify on-time rent history.

All of the apps can be scanned and emailed to me – or returned in person.

As far as background checks - the experian report has basic criminal history. So far the employers have been large employers that will have done their own background check - so I trust that. Last tenant and current tenant were fresh grads so I used their offer letters instead of current w-2's. (It was eye-opening to see the offer letter from my current tenant - more income as a starting lawyer than I made in my most lucrative year, with options/stock, as an engineer.)

Calling the current employer is a big deal - I rejected two prospective tenants before settling on the current tenant this last round because their "employer" could not verify they worked there. That's a non-starter. No income, no renting from me. One also lied about previous landlord info - so that was a double whammy.

 

[KarenC]

[…]
Here's the document I put together for prospective tenants.:

Check list for tenant verification:
- Letter from HR, or phone number from HR to verify employment-

[…]

As a retired renter that is deferring claiming social security, I'm curious how you handle people in my situation. In the past, I've been able to provide bank statements showing I had 6-months worth of lease amount in savings, but I'm not sure how common that rubric is.

 

[NgineER]

As a retired renter that is deferring claiming social security, I'm curious how you handle people in my situation. In the past, I've been able to provide bank statements showing I had 6-months worth of lease amount in savings, but I'm not sure how common that rubric is.

We usually have the person without income pay three months in advance if necessary. If you have an excellent credit score then we would most likely not require additional security deposit.

 

[Sunset]

As a retired renter that is deferring claiming social security, I'm curious how you handle people in my situation. In the past, I've been able to provide bank statements showing I had 6-months worth of lease amount in savings, but I'm not sure how common that rubric is.

My great tenants of 20 years, were accepted because their credit score showed they paid all their debts, and had great references. I took the risk the man who was unemployed would find a job as he had a long work history. But maybe a large corporation landlord is not so flexible.

 

[KarenC]

NginER and Sunset,

Thank you so much for your responses! They are very reassuring; I've been anxious about continuing to be able to rent going forward. (I've very good with paying off debt, with the result I have an excellent credit score.)

 

[MichealKnight]

34 years. Wow. My experience is more limited than yours but just chiming in. I own (3) townhome units. Northern Virginia, and suburban Atlanta. Owned them anywhere from 2 years to 10 years. Longest tenant 3 years - - mind you the 2 locales I speak of can be transient.

I also use a property manager - one I've known for the full 10 years and gives me straight scoop. He does the credit check, criminal check. He is also religious about calling (2) previous landlords if available. He feels the current landlord *might* give stellar reference if he's dying to get rid of the tenant - lol- so he also likes to call the previous. I get to see the notes - and I believe he does it because his commission comes from signing a tenant and at times - he's taken his sweet ol' time even if they applicant looks good on paper.

Also, he *might* Google names. Google email addresses...... for instance if you Googled my email you'll see postings on fast food, on travel, movies, etc. Once he did this .....and he found out the apartment was being rented by some sugar-daddy wannabe for his honey. Fine - people's lifestyles - their business. But there was also a local news story from years ago where the guy's wife attempted stabbing on one of his honeys. Again - people's lives, their business -- but let's just say he found inaccuracies on stated income - and we waited a few weeks for another applicant.

I may get flamed for this - and that's fine - but - - my property manager *might* also casually walk by an applicant's car to see what shape it is in, if the inside is messy. He *might* make mental notes on if the kids are clean, or mouth isn't wiped, etc etc. I'm 3 states away so I of course am not sure if he does that -- but he might. He's owned rentals for decades and in my 10 years - I've never had a late payment or any problem whatsoever and of course two way street - if tenant needs a fix - my property manager knows he's authorized to call a quality person and nail the problem asap - including replacing appliances asap.

I really applaud the folks who have such long term tenants. I guess I like metro Northern VA metro Atlanta in that I feel 'safe' about job and population growth and demand. But I guess flip side is - the stage of life of prospective tenants might lead to shorter terms. Give and take I guess.

 

[Koolau]

We usually have the person without income pay three months in advance if necessary. If you have an excellent credit score then we would most likely not require additional security deposit.

IIRC our state allows no more than 2 months rent up front (first month and last month.) Our property manager (way back when) indicated that there were "ways" to evaluate potential renters. The legal rules were quite in favor of renters - not owners. The advantage switched to the owner, however, because there were always way more folks looking to rent than there were properties. The property manager was able to chose among the "applicants" by using her experience. She especially liked non-coms and officers in the army. They were issued housing allowances and anyone who didn't pay would quickly pony up if she called their commanding officer's office. The military takes housing allowance very seriously. We had few issues with renters but I'd never do it again.

We still rent the old mainland homestead from family (used to rent it from ourselves) Family CAN be good owners and renters - but that's not a guarantee!

 

[freedomatlast]

Thanks for all of the replies.

Rodi,
In this quote:


"Check list for tenant verification:
- Copy of W-2 from last year
- Copy of 2 most recent paychecks-
- Letter from HR, or phone number from HR to verify employment-
- Email address so I can send Experian connect credit check request. I need full name and email (not craigslist anonymized email) sent to me at xxx@xxx.com. I then send a request, through Experian, for you to purchase a credit report at your cost $19.95. You then share the report back to me. You are free to use this experian credit report with other rental applications.
- Current Landlord contact info to verify on-time rent history.

All of the apps can be scanned and emailed to me – or returned in person."

On the fourth bullet point, do you mean you get the tenant to run their own Experian Connect credit check at their expense and then share it with you?

 

[Octogirl]

All good responses.
I'll add that advertising is regional. We were using Craigslist but got a better response using FB Market place in our Phila area.
Also, I asked the tenants for 3 references (employers or other local people) who I called to review /verify what they told us on interview.
OUr tenents have stayed 5+ years. Very Happy !