Credit Score, Criminal Background, and Pets...

[John Majoris]

Hi Folks,

We have a 4 BR coming on the rental market in Bethlehem PA soon. This is our first non-weekly rental unit and I was wondering what other landlords do regarding credit scores and background checks, ie what are your minimums? 

No pets are allowed, but what happens when a service pet is part of the application?

What other things should we be considering when it comes to tenant selection?

Thanks!

[Drew Sygit]

Poor screening often results in lost rents, legal & court costs and costly damages.

• Screening of applicants includes the following:
  • Full credit/eviction/criminal checks are done, instead of score-driven reports
  • Verification of rental history includes validation of actual property owner to avoid fraud
  • Verification of stability of income & employment via YTD paystubs & W-2(s) (analyzed to confirm not fakes)
  • Income is calculated 3 ways to spot stability anomalies: pay period, YTD average and YTD + W-2 average.
  • Debt-to-income analysis (more accurate than traditional 3x rent requirement)
  • Bank statement to see if NSF issues, if deposits support income, prove MoveIn Funds, also analyzed for unusual transactions.
  • Pet screening
• Holding Fee required from approved applicants to make sure they are serious, before a property is marked pending. We will still show pending property & take backup applications until MoveIn occurs.
• Lease Signings include signing of our annually attorney reviewed, 27+ page lease, completed MoveIn Checklist & Video.
• Lease Terms are set to avoid end-dates from October to February whenever possible. This period is the hardest time to find new tenants, so we try to avoid it and minimize the length of a property’s vacancy.