Tenant screening

[Chris Williams]

I am a new real estate investor. I currently have a duplex that is occupied but will have a vacancy this summer. I would like any information you guys could give me in reference to background checks and credit reports. I am unfamiliar with how to go about doing these things and what sites to use. Thanks for any info.

[Lisa Wright]

I am a little late to the party but I use MyRental.com when I am screening prospective tenants. I love their services and their results.

As for the whole process, I usually have them fill out an application form and charge them an application fee to cover the cost of the report. This also will help steer away potential "bad" tenants in my opinion because they know what is going to show up on that report. So if they have had any past issues like evictions, they most likely won't want to waste their money on the application fee since they know they are more then likely to be rejected.

Aside from just screening them I like to sit and meet with them so I can get my own personal feel. Adding my own read of them with the reports the screening service pulls, gives me a pretty good indication of if I will be renting to them or not.