Tenant screening - turbo tenant vs cozy vs smartmove

[Mike A.]

Guys, I am trying to see which service is the best to use.  We've used Smart Move and Cozy, but have not tried Turbo Tenant.  I just am concerned if we have to go through an eviction, we'll not have the information from Smart Move since we cannot see the entire personal information.  I like the scoring feature where it says approve or deny, as Cozy doesn't give that info.  Any one try all three?  Which do you guys find the most useful? ?

[Luke Hagenbach]

Originally posted by @Mike A.:

I just am concerned if we have to go through an eviction, we'll not have the information from Smart Move since we cannot see the entire personal information.  I like the scoring feature where it says approve or deny, as Cozy doesn't give that info.?

I have not used Smart Move, but do use Cozy. It's convenient, but not a substitute for experienced decision making or good contracts. 

As far as having the information on a tenant, you should certainly collect all contact information on a tenant as part of your lease contract after you have screened the person through one of these sites.

As far as scoring goes to make a decision, I would not use an algorithm to determine if you should rent to someone. That is something you will need to develop a feel for, or hire someone who has this skill. Whether you should rent to someone or not should be a combination of looking at the credit report (not just the score, but why they have that score, how long ago were derrogatory items, etc.), what sort of job security do they seem to have (security is great; if they seem like they'll be in a much better position next year, they'll have a higher probability of buying a home or moving to a better situation), what their cash reserves look like, whether they have been forthcoming or hidden things from you, or if they have been evicted - legally (which shows up on reports), or effectively (which is harder to determine), etc. 

In short, these are great supplement tools to make screening or receiving payment more convenient, but they are not substitutes for developed intuition and property management.