Investor · hampton, VA · Member since 2009 · 428 posts · 249 votes
so I took an application from a prospective tenant yesterday. She put down her current address and landlord along with the landlord's phone number. When I called the landlord to ask some questions she was extremely polite and sounded very suspect. I asked her all of the questions that I typically ask and at the end of the conversation I asked if she was the owner on title and she said yes.
Next I pulled up the assessment on the house and it was a completely different owner listed. Different from what the prospective tenant wrote on her application (the person I called). When I ask the applicant did she know the person that I found on title she hung the phone up in my face. I guess she had her friend pose as the owner. This ever happened to anybody??
Yup! A few times, and I also check the tax records. I once had a tenant list their landlord/owner, who was indeed the owner, but the tenant neglected to mention the person was also their aunt, who gave them a rave review.
Yes...happened with my first tenants and I fell for it. Seven month later they moved out over one weekend leaving me with 40+ bags of garbage, utilities off and spoiling food in the frig and a kitty litter box full of....well, you know (and no pets were allowed in the place).
Since then I've had at least three other applicants put down friends names as landlords. It's the first thing I check when I get an application since our property records are online. The second thing I check are our online Marshal's listing (the law enforcement agency that handles all the eviction filings and final notices). Often those with fake landlords will also have dispossessory filings.
so I took an application from a prospective tenant yesterday. She put down her current address and landlord along with the landlord's phone number. When I called the landlord to ask some questions she was extremely polite and sounded very suspect. I asked her all of the questions that I typically ask and at the end of the conversation I asked if she was the owner on title and she said yes.
Next I pulled up the assessment on the house and it was a completely different owner listed. Different from what the prospective tenant wrote on her application (the person I called). When I ask the applicant did she know the person that I found on title she hung the phone up in my face. I guess she had her friend pose as the owner. This ever happened to anybody??
With my rental, I pulled the phone numbers directly from Google instead of the ones they supplied to me for their current employment. Since both of my tenants came from home, they didn't have rental history. I used this opportunity to call their emergency contact number (their moms). When I called the mom's, I started the conversation "Hello This is Brianna, Who am I speaking to?". They gave me their names, which matched the application (and also the tax records for their parent's houses) so I had faith I was dealing with their real moms. :-P