Zillow Rental Application - what to do next?

Question

Hi all,

Newbie landlord here.  I posted a property on Zillow with applications on.  Narrowed it down to a few folks based on my criteira but wondering what next steps I should take.  For example:

1) Do you comapre this report against something like transunion or resident reserach, to confirm everything you see in Zillow?

2) Do you take a paper application with all the vitals, such as SSN, DOB etc.?

3) Call landlord references.

Anything else I am missing?

Nathan Gesner · Answer

I've heard bad things about the zillow option. Consider using TransUnion SmartMove.

Bjorn Ahlblad · Answer

In my experience the Zillow app is not to be relied upon. Too much is entered by the applicant. We use our own application that does not include Credit and BG search and we only do that part for finalists. We call previous LL's and verify employment and income. These days you have to be very thorough.

Bryce Jamison · Answer

I use Zillow to rent my properties and I use their report as a first line filter. As long as they don't have any evictions, major crimes on their record, and an acceptable credit score / history, I'll then do the next level digging.

Zillow won't always give you the details you need about a criminal charge, so you'll either need them to provide documentation regarding what the charge is, or get a background check.

I'll typically ask for copies of pay stubs or bank statements to verify income if they didn't already upload them to Zillow. This will allow you to see how much they make, spend every month, and how much they have in savings.

I also make sure to call all of their references. This can be tricky though because you will definitely have people give you their cousins number and tell you it's their previous landlord. To combat this you'll need to quiz references. Ask them what their relationship was, what were the dates, how much was rent, what was the address.

Maybe there's better options than Zillow, but it's free and I'm still small enough that it works great for me.

Mackaylee Beach · Answer

Definitely recommend credit/background check. I reach out to at least last 2-year landlords for verifications.

INNAGO charges the applicant $35 for application. You receive credit/background and eviction reports.

Michael Bailey · Answer

@Nathan Miller thanks for the RentPrep shoutout, we always appreciate it!

@Sam Faas if you have any questions about us or how our services work, please feel free to get in contact with us directly using our Live Chat feature and one of our certified screeners will be more than happy to answer any questions that you may have. You can also reach out to me directly and I'd be more than happy to go into further detail with you about our services.

Colleen F. · Answer

Don't use zillow but if you have  after prequalidying use something like mysmartmove too.and look at the results carefully. I had one tenant enter the wrong birthdate and it did not flag. I called the tenant because it said he was 56, he fixed it and it was an honest mistake but I was very surprised that with names ssn when dob doest match that wast an issue.

Nathan Miller · Answer

For screening without integrated software, I've had excellent experience however with both RentPrep and ApplyConnect.  I'm told Transunion Smartmove has very limited criminal coverage.

There are also services that let you verify income so you do not have to rely on pay stubs, since it's very easy to fake pay stubs... google it.

Kirsten Wright · Answer

Hi.  Have you ever tried using the software programs that Bigger Pockets have partnered with? Such as RentRedi or the pre screening software?

Mohammad Parwez · Answer

I use a prescreening application using online forms using Jotforms. This is very convenient as you get most of the data that you need for screening. And this is free for up to 5 forms. Feel free to copy them.

https://form.jotform.com/220617821535150

Thanks

Mohammad Parwez

NC Realtor.

Zillow Rental Application - what to do next?

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