Specialist · Baton Rouge, LA · Member since 2018 · 117 posts · 110 votes
Hello all,
I was going to review Zillow on Google, but I guess they are too big to need reviews. I have 12 units and have been using Zillow for applications and screening, and everything was going OK until recently. I had a tenant apply, but he told me he was charged with a felony for drug possession in 2018. Zillow said his background was clear. That was strike 1. Then, we filled the unit with another tenant who Zillow once again said had a clear background. Fast forward 21 days and the police bust the apartment door in and arrest him for drug trafficking and possession of a stolen firearm as a felon (according to the newspaper). I searched him on Forewarn and 17 violations came up. Now we have to evict him and he is in jail.
DO NOT TRUST ZILLOW BACKGROUND CHECKS.
If anyone else has had a similar experience, I would love to hear about it. This is a major problem in my opinion.
Real Estate Broker · Hyde Park Tampa, FL · Member since 2019 · 2k+ posts · 3k+ votes
4y
I don't know anyone who does...there are plenty of online options and you need to choose one based on the screening criteria. Some only do state searches and other do more. You have to be careful about asking about convictions as this has turned into the latest in class action lawsuits against landlords. The awards have been based on the premise that if someone has served their sentence, they are deemed free and clear of their debt to society. Therefore, to deny housing based on a fulfilled obligation is unlawful. The awards have been in the millions. So don't ask - just do a National Screen on all applicants from an independent source - and let your minimum credit score criteria be the reason for non-acceptance. Zillow isn't what it presents itself to be...good post and a good warning. Thanks for sharing your experience.
Real Estate Broker · Hyde Park Tampa, FL · Member since 2019 · 2k+ posts · 3k+ votes
4y
I don't know anyone who does...there are plenty of online options and you need to choose one based on the screening criteria. Some only do state searches and other do more. You have to be careful about asking about convictions as this has turned into the latest in class action lawsuits against landlords. The awards have been based on the premise that if someone has served their sentence, they are deemed free and clear of their debt to society. Therefore, to deny housing based on a fulfilled obligation is unlawful. The awards have been in the millions. So don't ask - just do a National Screen on all applicants from an independent source - and let your minimum credit score criteria be the reason for non-acceptance. Zillow isn't what it presents itself to be...good post and a good warning. Thanks for sharing your experience.
Investor · Anchorage, AK · Member since 2015 · 267 posts · 76 votes
4y
I do backgrounds checks that are conducted through www.Avail.co and they run them through TransUnion Smart Move. In addition to that, I check for criminal background and evictions through the local source for that region. For example, in Indiana you can go to mycase.IN.gov and put in someone's name and date of birth. It will pull up civil and criminal cases against them if there are any. You should try several different spellings of their name on these govt websites such as: last name only; last name and first name; last name, first name and middle name.
In California, if you do a search by county under, for example, "Case Index Stanislaus County California" it will show you how to search someone's history for criminal and civil cases. You just need their name and date of birth.
The national databases sometimes miss things that the local sources (state and county) will reveal to you.
Laws are changing. Hiring a company to do a background check guarantees NOTHING. Some states don't allow evictions to show. Some hide other things. WA state no longer allows searching the courts history online. Starting this year, If you want to search someone's court history you must go to the district court and search their computers there yourself. After having a notorious crimial that showed clean, I've learned my lesson. Zillow background check, you gotta be kidding, worthless.
I'm so glad I found a post that voices my shock and frustration as well. Zillow background check said everything was good with my last tenants. Background check was clean. After 2 months in the unit... one of the tenants damaged a lot of my property in a drunken rage... endangering the mother of his children and front of his infant and toddler and getting arrested. I came to find out he has many charges of violence in a similar matter that showed up on different online checks. This is a duplex and I live in the upstairs unit so I got to hear all of it and I had to be the one to call the police. This is horrible. This is why we use these services so that we can be protected from these kind of things and so other people can be protected. I am so incredibly disappointed and will never trust a Zillow background check again.
Rental Property Investor · New York, NY · Member since 2018 · 21 posts · 7 votes
3y
@Megan Tavasto I’ve started using Housie.io, seems to be more comprehensive with background checks and income verification directly from bank, not pdf which can be forged
Back in 2018 my ex and I were having an argument. We both got in trouble for simple battery. He said that he was guilty and got off lightly. I said I was not guilty and the judge herself declared that the case was dismissed. This was back in 2018. Now, I did an application on Zillow and it said that the judge said I was guilty and I had to pay 450. I did not have to pay a single cent. My ex did. The judge said I was innocent. Now, because of Zillow I cannot get a home. I also have tried to dispute this. Not sure what will happen.
Back in 2018 my ex and I were having an argument. We both got in trouble for simple battery. He said that he was guilty and got off lightly. I said I was not guilty and the judge herself declared that the case was dismissed. This was back in 2018. Now, I did an application on Zillow and it said that the judge said I was guilty and I had to pay 450. I did not have to pay a single cent. My ex did. The judge said I was innocent. Now, because of Zillow I cannot get a home. I also have tried to dispute this. Not sure what will happen.
Back in 2018 my ex and I were having an argument. We both got in trouble for simple battery. He said that he was guilty and got off lightly. I said I was not guilty and the judge herself declared that the case was dismissed. This was back in 2018. Now, I did an application on Zillow and it said that the judge said I was guilty and I had to pay 450. I did not have to pay a single cent. My ex did. The judge said I was innocent. Now, because of Zillow I cannot get a home. I also have tried to dispute this. Not sure what will happen.
File a lawsuit against the company that provide the background check and Zillow
Bigger Pockets actually offers tenant screening on their site through a trusted partner. There are multiple options available for screening packages; tenant involvement/no tenant involvement, instant reports, hand-compiled reports, and even income verification.
You can find further information by going to Tenant Screening under the Tools tab.
Rental Property Investor · Grand Prairie, TX · Member since 2018 · 2k+ posts · 2k+ votes
3y
@Travis Steinemann
This happened to me too. The applicant was upfront with me before I did the Zillow background check and told me she had a felony on her record. Everything on her came back clean even though she was convicted and did prison time.
I’ve been using a company called been verified lately. I was paying $4 for unlimited background checks with them for a week. Now they charge $20 for unlimited background checks. I’ve taken some people with felonies and the background checks so far with Been Verified have been accurate to what these people have told me upfront.
Specialist · Baton Rouge, LA · Member since 2018 · 117 posts · 110 votes
3y
@John Morgan I use the AAOA (American Apartment Owners Association) screening now and it is very good. They are a great resource as well for all things landlording. It is more expensive though, so I may look into yours too, thanks.
As an Owner/Managing Partner & default Landlord for 34 homes in 8 states I’ve learned quite a bit about “Zillow” and many other information brokers etc and how/when background checks help. In no particular order and this is not legal advice I’ll share expensive lessons learned:
1. Unless it’s a multi-unit property you have no duty to perform any type of background check & in almost every state massive increased liability from doing so. 2. Do not use an online service or information bank like been verified/zillow and so forth. Do use a standard written application form with an ink signature that reads very closely like a job application. 3. Require at least 5 real references and call them yourself and require 3 family/personal references. 4. Do not collect banking or financial information and absolutely do not use an online payment service that is flaunting the law by linking to bank accounts as a means of pseudo investigations. 5. Do realize that property managers must have separate financial licenses and bonding in almost every state and being a Realtor who does "property management" provides zero protections for you. 6, Do realize that living in one state and renting in another can under certain circumstances require you to answer litigation and issues brought in Federal Court and all of the end user agreements with every online service or local Realtor property management contracts will leave you alone and swinging in the wind. 7. Verify yourself if you are required to register your property as a rental, consult an Attorney who has actually appeared in at least 100 cases where your property is located. In almost every case you are better off to be your own company with E&O insurance and self managing. 8. Evictions happen it's normal and you should learn about them and expect one or two at some point.8. Credit scores mean absolutely nothing and using them to ascertain rental worthiness will eventually place you at great risk. All of the credit bureaus prohibit the use of consumer reports or information for rental transactions. 8. Use your corrected Attorney created written application to allow you to ask their bank for the overdraft & daily balance history. Check the sex offenders list, require two years of consent employment, don't pull credit scores, do run a drivers records check, do run a state background check through your state police and do a local county courts check, list each category on your application and have them initial and sign along with a witness of a notary. 9. Require renters insurance naming you as additional insured at the time of walk-thru, require valid auto insurance for all vehicles to be garaged on your property, video all walk-thrus, require only the paying adult or adults to be named on the lease, do not require all adults living in the premises to be on the lease. There's too much liability for you if you do. 10. Pay the small amount to have a licensed CPA under a retainer agreement and contract in writing with you pay all bills and taxes and issue all deposit refunds etc.
Investor · Indianapolis, IN · Member since 2010 · 117 posts · 41 votes
2y
I have had some applicants that I believe to be fraudulent. I can’t really prove it but they appears to be. We ended up accepting one and had to evict them. I most likely won’t accept Zillow applications.
Zillow check has two inherent flaws in the system that won’t ever be solved: the SSN field is not required to be filled out, and you might receive an “unavailable” result instead of an actual result. The other is that the data is from a national database and lacks eviction data on a county level altogether. If a landlord is literally on a state line and an eviction occurred in the next county over, they’re almost guaranteed to miss it.
For income verification, I’ve had to change my strategy to verify through an open banking connection instead of physical documents. A bank connection can’t be falsified like a stub or a bank statement.
The eviction problem is a bit harder to solve because there’s no system that really works on a national level.