What is your process to screen your tenants?

Question

Hi Everyone,

Historically, I have used a real estate agent to rent my properties. I have spent too much money on this. On the advice of member here, I am renting my currently vacant unit on my own. Can I ask what tenant screening packets do you guys like. I have been looking at NTN, but they require a whole lot of credentialing to get a credit report.  I am also looking at smartmove as mentioned int he article on this website. Any other options that you would consider?

thank you

Chris Parrish · Answer

@Vincent M., you should check out Cozy.com for their application process. There are others around as well, but I have found Cozy to be the most all encompassing program out there. It will charge the tenant $40 bucks and they will enter their information into their system and it will send you the backfround check, credit score and history, and eviction history.

Paul Ronto · Answer

@Eugene Kemp Just wanted to reach out and let you know you can do your application process online through TT and when you are ready, if the tenant passes your criteria, you can request access to their screening reports and they won't have to fill out the second application. Takes one step out of the process and makes things easy both on you and the prospective tenants. You can customize the online application too to adjust to your needs should you want to ask a few additional questions that are not normally covered. Hope that makes your landlording even easier!

Eugene Kemp · Answer

We typically advertise the unit through Turbotenant and when someone expresses interest, we arrange to show the unit.....1st impressions tell a lot. If they pass muster there, we give them a paper application to collect references, and check what that looks like. If they pass the second level, we provide a link via Turbotenant for background and credit checks and go from there.

Eugene Kemp · Answer

Paul, I don't like to require people to pay money if I don't intend to rent to them. Is the preliminary screening report free or do they have to pay a fee to fill that out?

Sarnen Steinbarth · Answer

@Vincent M.

Here are a few tips I'd recommend

• Make sure you do a good job marketing your unit, so you have enough applicants to have a solid set of criteria / standards.
• Utilize an online rental application to easily collect application information
• Make sure you pull credit, criminal and eviction reports
• Familiarize yourself with federal and state landlord-tenant laws as well as fair housing laws.

Feel free to message direct for specifics on any of these.

Vincent M. · Answer

thanks to everyone, this dialogue has been very helpful

Rick S. · Answer

@Brendan Longe there a few threads on here with common criteria people use as you typically see some type of Income-to-Rent ratio at 2.5 or 3 times and some use a minimum credit score as that isn't discriminatory.  Make sure to have a set criteria before you start advertising and include it in your ad to filter out people before you even get to the phone interview.

Here is one thread:

https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/52/topics/433...

Paul Ronto · Answer

@Brendan Longe So what I do when someone emails me off a listing, I have a checklist of questions I ask them before we ever talk about a showing. If they meet my criteria in that initial phone call we set up a showing and go from there. At the end of the showing if they are interested in moving forward with the property then I have them apply, I pull screening reports and things get more formal.

Setting rental criteria that weeds tenants out is not discrimination as long as it is in line with fair housing rule. So questions I ask initially are:

1. Is this rental for you or someone else?

2. Why are you moving?

3. What is your planned move-in date?

4. How many people do you plan on living with?

5. What is your current monthly income?

5. Can you provide employer and landlord references?

7. Are you willing to submit a credit, criminal and eviction check?

These usually help me narrow down the amount of people interested in my properties. I live in a college town so I get a dozen inquiries a day on vacant or soon-to-be vacant properties so I have to have a way to narrow it to people that meet my criteria like 3x income/monthly rent, 3 or less unrelated people living in a property (City ordinance), move-in dates, willingness to do a credit check and so on. These all take about 2 minutes to go through and really help with pre-screening and like I said, if these all lineup, then it's on to the showing. Hope that helps.

Let me know if you have any other questions! Good luck.

Brendan L. · Answer

@Paul Ronto How do you do phone screening and maintain your criteria and avoid discriminating? Like, what criteria can you legally use to decline application?

Paul Ronto · Answer

@Eugene Kemp I hear what you are saying. What I would recommend then is when you get a lead, do some simple phone screening with the potential tenant before you ever show the property. This is a quick and easy way to weed people out that don't meet your criteria without anyone having to fill out paperwork. Then if you move on to a showing and they are still interested you can send them the formal application link which will integrate with the screening reporting. You don't have to charge anyone a penny that's not both cleared by you or actually interested in your property.

What is your process to screen your tenants?

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