Recommendation for tenant background/credit check
I used Cozy.co to do my tenant screening and it worked great. It was also easy to transition my new tenants into making online payments through them.
One word of advice though: if your local court is searchable online, it is a good idea to search prospective tenants through them. You can get a lot of information about people. I had one prospective tenant that sued a local restaurant which led to them going out of business. I had another one with judgments that were older and not showing up on the background check, but it was important information for me to have.
It is also very important to check references. Make sure they are employed by whom they say they are employed. Talk to their most recent landlord, and even more importantly, the landlord before the last one.
Good luck!
Here is a link to BP's Ultimate Tenant Screening Guide
Cozy and SmartMove are very easy to set up and use.
We've found that the best indicators of how your tenants will perform is credit score and previous landlord references (particularly the one before the place they are moving out of). Definitely call them.
Good luck!
Thank you Jennifer L. William Hochstedler ! I have posted my ads on cozy and I will for sure check cozy and smart move out for background check. William Hochstedler do you know if our local court here in Utah is searchable online as mentioned by Jennifer?
Yes, the court records are seachable, but you have to pay a monthly fee if you want to do it online. Othewise, you can go down to the courthouse and look them up for free. The online site is:
ksl is the most searched local source. It sends you to rentler which is free to list and also has a background check you can use if you like it.
Kilter L. I use USAA Smart Move
Thank you Matt Sprunt Rebecca Belnap and Tommy F.