All Forum Posts by: Alex Hamilton

Hello David,

The balance owed to a prior apartment complex would be my primary concern with this "hypothetical" applicant. You can contact the apartment complex to get more information about the balance owed from 2 years ago. The income verification is also a concern, but perhaps they can provide bank statements as an alternative? Also, beware of applicants offering to pay rent in advance. This is a practice of professional tenants to lure unsuspecting landlords into a nightmare deal.

There are a lot of tenant screening services available. The company you use should be able to provide coverage limitations for criminal/eviction products. Make sure you are obtaining products to meet your needs. Also, I suggest you define your screening criteria and disclose it to prospects before taking applications. Doing so will limit your exposure to litigation for Fair Housing violations.

You should be very careful about checking someone's credit without their approval. The check will show as an inquiry on their credit report and affect their score. You could be sued for not obtaining authorization before making the inquiry. Your CRA should advise and require signed authorization from the applicant and it should be kept on file for 25 months from the time of inquiry.

There are certain types of credit inquiries that can be made without the consumer's consent, but that's not applicable in this scenario. If you're unsure, you should contact your CRA or attorney to make sure you are compliant with the FCRA and Credit Bureau Compliance Requirements.

Hello Tim,

You should be able to have the applicant apply online, then have the co-applicant fill out a hand-written application to place an order manually.

The fact that this applicant is a friend should not be a factor in your decision to rent. What is your process for obtaining criminal information? Anything more than 7 years old should not be reported by a Consumer Reporting Agency. You may be in violation of Fair Housing Laws for denying this applicant. You should address this matter with your attorney or a local housing association.

checkpointscreening.com

I don't think you're using the credit report properly @Vitaliy Merkulov. Checking a credit report validates the social security number of your applicant and provides a verified address history.  The history shown on the credit report should be compared to the application before completing a rental or employment verification. Otherwise, you may be contacting an unverified source of data.

A "soft" pull report refers to a consumer initiated request and doesn't come with a score. This type of request is for Employment Screening or checking your own credit. Tenant screening is not a soft pull. Some companies have catered to consumers by allowing them to check their own credit (soft) and share their report results with landlords, but screening tenants this way is not favorable to property managers.

You should ask your representative at Cozy @Ketan Patel if you're not sure what kind of criminal report you're receiving. As @Jason Moore mentions, there are multiple sources for data, and some may be better than others. Consider learning more about the process and look at product options that meet your goals. I'm available to help if you contact me directly.

@Ketan Patel what kind of criminal report are you getting? Is this a manual search done by a court researcher or a database search?

There are obvious benefits to a "centralized and linked" system as @Dan Hilton is suggesting. Some systems already integrate all aspects of property management, but the quality of each are inferior to specialized services. There are companies that specialize in tenant screening, while others specialize in contractor work or analytics. You won't find a specialized service with a "centralized and linked" system. The big players in the industry will promote their own product instead of integrating. There is simply no benefit to them for promoting another company's product.

Consider how Walmart can meet all your shopping needs. However, if you want a great steak you'll probably search for a local butcher. New trendy clothes? You'll splurge at Nordstroms. Each company/investor has different goals, so a one-stop-shop may work for some, while others appreciate specialized services.

Sure @Meghan Rowe, there is always room for improvement regarding market data analysis. However, an integration is only effective when the source it's information is coming from has quality. I would suggest that some industries need to focus more on the production and quality of data instead of how to obtain or report it through integrations. Both will be important for developing the "next big thing". Just give me an honorable mention when you take it to the Shark Tank!

@Alice K. I've worked with thousands of property managers to streamline their leasing process and understand the benefits of manually entering applicant data. May I contact you directly to discuss some options not addressed here in your post?