patrick.net

Well why is Mom and Pop doing a Credit check?
Surely they don't reckon that will be some indicator that the potential tenants wont get laid off a week after signing the lease. Have a cousin that knows the tenant landlord laws and coaches them on how to live in the apartment for 6 months rent free, while Mom and Pop pays thousands trying to evict them?

Mom and Pop sounds like part of the problem.

I use Screeningworks.com and have been very happy with it. Can almost always find a coupon code which brings the cost down to $26 or so. I have each adult pay $30 (all adults are required to be screened, and all adults over 18 need to be on the lease).

Screeningworks verifies SSN, immigration status, credit, evictions, criminal, etc. Only thing to keep in mind is that some of the checks are state specific, so if the applicant has a previous address in a different state that is fairly recent, I usually run them in the old state, or make them pony up another $30 to check both states.

I also have a subscription to Spokeo (there are other similar services out there). I never trust the information on the application with regards to contact info of prior landlords or manager at work. Half the time you are getting their girlfriend or sister or something. I call the county to get actual owner info of their prior address and then use spokeo to find out the owners contact info. I also use Spokeo to research the applicant and confirm old addresses, facebook accounts, etc to see what sort of insight I can get on them.

To Captiain's point, I also always verify employment and when I am speaking to the HR, I ask generic questions about the company health as well. You of course also want to try and get an idea if that employee is going to get canned, but usually they will only answer direct questions of "is this person employed as a XXXX at your company". "Is this person currently the subject of any disciplinary actions or investigations.", "Are their performance reviews satisfactory." They usually won't give salary info out, and ask the tenant for pay statements or bank statements (preferably both since bank statements can show how lavish a lifestyle someone leads). If the person has been at that job not too long, it raises a red flag and I dig deeper to find out why they are no longer at their last job (usually call the previous employer)

What about the alternative of asking for two months' rent as security deposit and not verifying information?

just want to get replies by email so I checked that box and submitted this extra post

My neighbor in San Jose moved to Placerville, kept the SJ house as a rental. Left his parents who lived in town (Berryessa) to look after the rental.

When the tenant's tattooed son moved in a few months later after his incarceration, the pit bull dogs followed. I told the parents, if those dogs hurt anyone, we're gonna sue your son's ass. The other neighbors will do likewise, if those dogs hurt any of them.

Tenant vetted good, a full time employed middle aged lady going to community college at night.

They just could not confront the tenant about the matter, they sold the place instead.

They can use an unlawful detainer law firm to get the notice sent and then to through with the eviction if needed. No need to go to the property personally at all. A written rental agreement with a no pets or no dogs policy would be helpful, but there are other ways out if you don't have that.

gbenson,

Thanks for the referral. And thanks to the others who provided useful landlord info.

Biff

gbenson,

My friend went to the website you suggested and got a very vague report that said the applicant was of "Minimal Credit Risk" with "Minor Level of Credit Problems". No details were provided.

Is that the same report you normally purchase?

Can they get a regular credit report (Equifax, Experian or TransUnion) with the applicant's permission?

Biff

Minimal credit risk is just that, they pay their bills on time. If there is a risk, it shows you why: chargeoffs, judgements, bankruptcy, etc. In those cases, if I don't reject them outright then I ask the applicant to get a copy of their credit report, which is free for them to get and they can do it online. I also usually ask for a bank statements for me to review. If they are a bankruptcy risk, then its a definite 'no'.

Medium credit risk is usually medical bills of some sort or old debt, serious credit risk is usually liens, judgements, or recent bankruptcy. That being said, I am currently renting my old house to a guy for $2200/mo who is a 'serious credit risk'. (Doctor whose private business got nailed by the IRS and he filed bankruptcy to protect his assets). They are model tenants and I just signed a 2 year extension with him. But I raked the poor guys finances over the coals to make sure he was going forwards and not backwards and that his story checked out (he had all court documents and irs papers to prove his story.

I found a credit report for landlords on Experian. The applicant pays $14.95 and grants you permission to see their credit score and report.

http://www.experian.com/connect/landlord.html

Biff

Most states have passed laws where every person is entitled to one free credit report per year (per service), so in theory you could get 3 free reports per year.

Experian, TransUnion, and Equifax all now use this site for their free report requests:
https://www.annualcreditreport.com/cra/index.jsp

I just have them get a PDF and show it to me.

It also works both ways now. Why should a tenant not screen the landlord to see if he has paid the mortgage on the said rental property.

I own, but have also rented in the past, and have never paid a fee to someone who wants to essentailly sell me a service for a fixed time period. You want money to rent your property, we want to pay you to rent that property, you (Landlords) should pay the screening fees.

gbenson says

Experian, TransUnion, and Equifax all now use this site for their free report requests:
https://www.annualcreditreport.com/cra/index.jsp

I have used those sites previously and they are notoriously difficult to use. I assume that the credit agencies make it that way on purpose as their is no money in it for them. I couldn't get my reports. When I called and paid I got them right away. They said that the address I gave (my current address for the last two years) was not the one that the freecreditreport site found in my credit records. The pay version had no problems matching my records.

Andy S says

You want money to rent your property, we want to pay you to rent that property, you (Landlords) should pay the screening fees.

Doesn't happen that way, not gonna happen that way. Dream all you want.

I am a renter.

Biff

Andy S says

It also works both ways now. Why should a tenant not screen the landlord to see if he has paid the mortgage on the said rental property.

I own, but have also rented in the past, and have never paid a fee to someone who wants to essentailly sell me a service for a fixed time period. You want money to rent your property, we want to pay you to rent that property, you (Landlords) should pay the screening fees.

It would just be built into the rent anyway, then. I'm sure there are multiple instances in other parts of life where you have indeed paid a screening fee or application fee before receiving a service.

You want to live in the landlord's property, so you can play by his rules, or not apply/rent from him. Fine, but of all the places I've rented, I think I didn't pay an application fee only once, because the landlord was a very casual guy and the departing tenants knew and recommended me.

As for having the tenant provide a credit report, my concern would be the photoshopping and other doctoring that may take place before it's provided to me.

Andy S says

It also works both ways now. Why should a tenant not screen the landlord to see if he has paid the mortgage on the said rental property.

Renters could do so, although property tax is probably easier to check. But since the law in many states has now provided all sorts of protections to tenants in situations where the landlord is getting foreclosed, it may not be worthwhile.

ah...yeah, it's called get off their dead arses get the facts and do some hard core ground work the old school way.

Biff Baxter says

their credit score and report.

Yes, all these fucking moronic report agencies are also near scams to me, charge for this and charge for that ...all to find out if you pay your bills ie.your own credit record! LOL as if you don't know if you do or don't? This is all money making for these agencies. People cannot verify their information by themselves or others? Years ago verification was person to person you didn't have to buy a fucking idiotic "credit report or worse score." This brainswashing about scores is another issue, this fucking insane "credit score" bullshite is all part of the trap in my opinion.

All this crap just makes people spend money and makes the firms money. You call these agencies and try to get information? You get some utter dope in a call centre who doesn't apppear to know their arse from a hole in the ground, and it is really frightening that same person can see your credit records.

Here is my theory on credit you either PAY YOUR BILLS (and on time) or YOU DON'T!

And clearly with all the FRAUD out there, all these fuckers who took money upon money, lied on documents and they still got the money means one thing to me, you can wipe your ass with these reports they mean nothing.

gbenson says

I dig deeper to find out why they are no longer at their last job

I guess you have people with great credit, no criminal history and a good job lining up to rent your place. Glad for you. I guess with their good credit and great job they're paying you twice as much a month because they feel 3% interest is like stealing. :)

ELC says

I guess with their good credit and great job they're paying you twice as much a month because they feel 3% interest is like stealing. :)

WTF? Why would they pay anyone twice as much? They rightfully should be demanding a major reduction for being willing and able to pay like a BANK.

gbenson says

I use Screeningworks.com and have been very happy with it. Can almost always find a coupon code which brings the cost down to $26 or so. I have each adult pay $30 (all adults are required to be screened, and all adults over 18 need to be on the lease).

LMFAO this is all too fucking hilarious to me for words.

JG1 says

Fine, but of all the places I've rented, I think I didn't pay an application fee only once, because the landlord was a very casual guy and the departing tenants knew and recommended me.

That's the way to do it. Rent from nice people. A large development has to screen for insurance purposes. Condos have associations that require it. That I can understand. But some cheapskate vulture who owns a couple of houses screens because he's most likely an asshole. He's been burned before and doesn't realize it was his own fault, and screening is going to magically make up for not providing proper service to the tenant. I've found that the more distrustful someone is the more unstrustworthy they are.

If you're not a good judge of character you're in the wrong business.

gbenson says

ask the tenant for pay statements or bank statements (preferably both since bank statements can show how lavish a lifestyle someone leads).

Which is worse? A tenant (s) who is one day late and takes excellent care of the property or a landlord/property manager/ owner who keeps the rent and security deposits and DOES NOT MAKE MORTGAGE payments FOR YEARS? How does an HONEST tenant make sure that the Landlord is NOT buying luxury cars planes and vacations with the tenants money? In my situation a whole city block of rental units includes ALL TENANTS where the landlord KEEPS and spends All the rent money for personal use. Today...the banks caught up with him. He now has a row of short sales that he is selling back TO HIMSELF via short sales. BTW he is a REALTOR, The Director of the local Real estate association, and also is a developer a builder and owns the largest property management firm in the city. He is also the mayor and hand picked the last local judge and is the largest campaign contributor locally. How can he KEEP tenant money to use for personal use and not pay mortgage? The TBTF banks NEED him since he builds more houses---still today building new but not selling. How does he qualify for short sales ? Because the LAW does NOT REQUIRE banks to verify that short sales are arms length transactions. Why do TBTF banks want to give away money through bogus short sales like these? Because we will BAIL THEM OUT AGAIN and again.

In my current rental I met the landlord first and then decided to rent the place based on my judgement that he was a genuinely nice guy. We talked about it for a while, I mentioned that my credit was good and we were holding off on buying a house until the market went down a bit. The house was nice, even if it is by a freeway. Based on a solid rapport with the guy, he ended up cutting his asking rate $400/month to rent to me and my family, with one month deposit. It's been a good arrangement for both parties. I pay my bills on time, even when I was hurt and couldn't work for three months. We take care of the place and try not to damage things. He put in a central AC unit two years ago on request. I replaced a glass range that I broke with one acceptable to him. He replaced a kitchen faucet that broke because it was old, and repaired the garage door opener twice.
He does get mail that goes there occasionally, so we hold it for him and he stops by every so often. It's a good arrangement, and he wants us to stay as long as we can.
I guess this is just one data point, but if you can find honest people to rent to, trust can go both ways.

Reader says

Yes, all these fucking moronic report agencies are also near scams to me

Reader, you sir, have your head up your own arse. Not sure what your point was other than to bash an entire industry because you got ripped off by a bad service.

The reason I recommended Screenworks is a flat rate service. They do a fairly comprehensive search. Yes, I could independently go check all this information (credit, ssn verification, previous addresses, criminal, eviction, sex offender), but why would I when I can punch in the applicants ssn and birthday and have the data in 30 seconds. My time is worth more than $30/hr, plus the applicant pays it, and most applicants consider $30 a low screening fee, most big complexes are charging $60-$70, and I've seen what they get back and my report is better.

All I can say is it has helped me greatly and I find it a worthwhile service. The only thing I don't like about it is it limits the criminal and eviction checks the state of their most recent address (but if you put in their old address in another state it will check that state). So if they have only been in your state for a few months, you have to decide which state to run, then either run again for the other state or independently verify the information as others have mentioned above.

That being said, the screening is only half (or less) of the application process. The major things are getting good references (with independently verified contact information), employment verifiecation, and digging around the internet to find their facebook pages and whatnot. Some interesting, and sometimes scary, finds...

investor90 says

BTW he is a REALTOR, The Director of the local Real estate association, and also is a developer a builder and owns the largest property management firm in the city. He is also the mayor and hand picked the last local judge and is the largest campaign contributor locally.

Then the mass media is his achilles heel. Sounds like a good timely news story to me.

Quigley says

Based on a solid rapport with the guy

Rapport is everything. Often people with bad credit can be the best. Since they can't get credit they have no leash to hang themselves with. Also many who have screwed up have learned their less and are extra vigilant the same thing doesn't happen again. There's all sorts of legitimate reasons people have for going bad on their credit. Someone who assumes that everyone with bad credit is a deadbeat probably is or was a deadbeat themself. If they want to check your credit ask if you can check their credit as well. You might find they're late on their mortgage.

ELC says

If they want to check your credit ask if you can check their credit as well. You might find they're late on their mortgage.

VERY GOOD POINT.