You worked hard to own an investment property or build a career around managing rental properties. Why jeopardize your effort by renting to an unqualified tenant that could cost you hundreds or thousands of dollars in lost rent, property damage or evictions.
Maybe you’ve been lucky.
Great tenants. On-time rent payments. Full security deposit refunds.
But what happens when the friendly faced applicant, who said all the right things, and told you about the great job, the great rental history, the great references, turns out to be too good to be true?
It might start out as a late rent payment and a reasonable excuse. But then it happens again. The rent stops showing up. Phone calls don’t get returned. And the lease violations start piling up. Suddenly it’s time for an eviction.
Did you really do everything in your power to prevent this eviction and tenant relationship gone bad? The only way to to truly protect your property and financials is to screen your tenants.
Reviewing an applicant’s credit report, criminal background and rental history, will give you insight into their financial responsibility, rule abiding behavior and respect for rental properties.
The best part about Tenant Screening is that your property management software offers fully integrated screening reports that connect with your online rental applications. In seconds you can have instant access to credit, criminal, and eviction data.
Evictions are stressful and will cost you real dollars in lost rent, legal fees, cleanup, new locks, and repairs. In a messy eviction, even if you win the lawsuit, the tenants might be ordered to pay your costs and legal fees – but most tenants facing eviction don’t have much money, so it can be difficult to collect.
Why put your investment at risk with an unqualified tenant? In just a few steps you can access valuable information for evaluating the trustworthiness of your next tenant.
Your Rentec account is already set up to order criminal and eviction reports on your tenants, check it out in the Reports Tab! You can also have instant access to credit reports once your account has been enabled for credit report access. You just need to return a simple application, a legal requirement by the credit bureaus, and we will have your account ready to go!
Signing Up for Credit Report Access is easy:
- Log Into Your Account
- Click the Reports Tab
- Under Screening Reports, follow the instructions for downloading and completing the credit access application. The application may look intimidating (5 pages! Yikes!) But it’s really only the terms and conditions, and a few questions about your business. It’s a shorter process than filling out the liability waiver for going skydiving-we promise!
If you want to find out more about why you need to fill out a credit access application check out this article: Easy Access to Tenant Credit Reports.
Not quite convinced about the value of tenant screening? Maybe this video will convince you.
The Rentec Direct Team is happy to help you get setup to start screening. Give us a call at 800-881-5139 or send us an email at support@rentecdirect.com.
As part of my process, I will do a home visit if they are less than 25 miles. I took landlord training at CIC in Chicago and it was recommended; it has really served me well.
Hi Kimberly,
What a great idea! I hadn’t thought about the idea of a home visit before. I have heard about the “walk your applicant to their car” strategy where you can get a peek at how clean or messy their vehicle is so you can get insight on how they might treat your property. For landlords and managers who have the option to spend the time conducting a local home visit prior to approval, I imagine that would give even better insight on how they live! CIC is a great resource and gives great solutions. Thanks for the tip!
Getting a tenant report is one thing, interpreting it to have a high-probability of a successful landlord experience is an entirely diffet thing.
I completely agree. Tenant screening goes far beyond pulling a report and seeing a good credit score. Interpreting the report correctly and doing additional tenant screening like a tenant interview, checking references and calling past landlords are all important parts of the process. Here’s a look at how to interpret tenant screening reports to help make a smart tenant approval. https://www.rentecdirect.com/blog/2014/06/tenant-screening-101-deciphering-your-reports/