All Forum Posts by: Stephen White

You've got it down to science Rick L. an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure when dealing with tenants

Great information from Rob K I'm literally taking notes! And I agree I would not spent any money on a wage garnishment. They're so rarely successful.

Genius Roy N.! And Rick L. I love the question you present about the tenant having an issue getting a background check. I have heard from so many landlords that great screening starts right there. You let the bad tenants know right away that you're going to find out about their evictions (or whatever else) and that will weed out a good chunk and let you screen from a better pool.

Cant comment on the fraud stuff.. but I think the idea is right to rent out individually. You already have experience and success with this way and there are great tools to help you stay organized and keep things easy. For example I would recommend an app like LandlordApp to keep you organized and a rent pay system that they can pay online instead of you rounding up checks.

I love the $500 budget too Andrea M. Helps make the place attractive for new tenants and hopefully shorten any vacancy time.

Patrick L. is right. Once an eviction is filed the record exists, and will show up on a background check. The tenant can file to have it released if they moved out before the process finalized and show proof to the court (they rarely do this). If they leave you owing any past due rent turn them over to a contingency based collection agency that will immediately place the account on their credit report. This will cost you nothing and have an immediate impact on their record for future landlords. Good looking out for others Mike Franco everyone appreciates that!

Eric Mavor no problem, just let me know if you decide to go and I'll meet you there and be sure to introduce you to anyone I know.

Jamaal Hunt that is a good tip on checking the water bills as part of the tenant screening. Sometimes an entire event can be worth a small gem like that! And the raffle winnings are always a plus.

Tim G. is a Super Landlord! And I always love the cash for keys approach

I hope Angies list is NOTHING like the BBB! I have had several bad experiences with the BBB and you're 100% correct when you say they get their money from businesses so they tend to lean towards those that pay them. We had an issue with a complaint that wasn't even our company and they tried to make us pay for a membership before they would remove the negative remark! Finally after a nasty letter they removed it but I never understood why it was a problem in the first place due to it being a mistake. Go to youtube and look up BBB scams and you;ll see an awesome video that I think dateline did about the BBBs shortcomings.