Landlords: What service do you use for screening tenants (background / credit)?

[aigel]

Hi Guys,

I was going to use Zillow or apartments.com to screen tenants and I have a very nice couple that is really struggling using these services. I will give these folks first dibs and I would like to just have them give me their info and run the checks myself. What service do you use? I am looking for recent experience / regular users of these services. What will I need from them? It'd be good to just be able to collect their necessary information over the phone.

Thanks!

G

[look 171]

We sometimes just run them ourselves and wave the fees if they seem to be good people. I also have an agent that rent some of the higher rent homes for us because we feel the higher the rent, the better the renters feel better going through a professional. They don't want to deal or see my ugly ass. The agent does all that for us for a month's rent. My wife takes cares of the paper work end of the rentals for us, I will ask her later for you.

[aigel]

Thanks Jeff. What service do you use when you "run them ourselves"?

This looks like solid people and they provided documentation that's all fine so far, so I need to help them out on doing this for them.

G

[look 171]

Wife's at her parents. Will ask when she gets back later tonight.

If you like them and think they are solid folks, jsut run their credit yourself and be done with it. Good folks are out there so I try and keep them happy and they will be buying you the house.

[aigel]

Yes, that is the plan indeed. These are long term locals with long term jobs etc. Thanks!

[look 171]

I have a house in Torrance rented to a middle age surfer dude from New Mexico that's been there for the past 6 years, sells drugs for a living with a beautiful red head Colombian stay home wife and their little girl. Pays on time, rent is at the top of market rate(newly completely remodeled home), have a great job, doesn't complain. I sure hope they stay until their kid goes off to college. They moved in when she was born. I hope you get the same people in your unit.

[Cdnone1]

I just get work and income verification, run a credit check and actually call their present and recent landlords. If they don't have the stated income or credit score that I consider a minimum I don't bother and move to the next one.

[look 171]

Originally Posted by Cdnone1

I just get work and income verification, run a credit check and actually call their present and recent landlords. If they don't have the stated income or credit score that I consider a minimum I don't bother and move to the next one.

From what I understand, due to our wonderful Newsome who sign rent control into law, we must rent to section 8 applicants. No question asked. I also hear that credit scores are no longer a valid reason to not rent to perspective tenants. Don't quote me on this. Need to find out myself. I am holding out due to no eviction BS and don't want to deal with that.

[aigel]

Originally Posted by Cdnone1

I just get work and income verification, run a credit check and actually call their present and recent landlords. If they don't have the stated income or credit score that I consider a minimum I don't bother and move to the next one.

Thanks, yes this is my plan, but I am wondering how do you run the credit check?
Do you run a background check (criminal history)? Do you get a paper form filled in and then go online and run it yourself? What information are they providing?

Thanks,

Georg

[aigel]

To clarify, these folks are not computer savvy, I cannot go send them an "invite" to go get a screening. It needs to be entered by me.

[look 171]

We just google their names and look for any abnormal things that come up.

We weed them out by asking for first and last month rent along with security deposit. That can run upwards of 9-10k depending on the rent amount. We sometimes allow then to break up deposit over three payments. Pay check stubs and bank accounts and ssc number are a must.

I once talked to a friend who's been doing this for a very long time about calling current landlords about the status of potential renters. He answered without thinking and said, "Maybe they are such pain in the ass the landlord will say anything so they can go". I have never thought about that. Thought I share this with you guys.

[look 171]

Originally Posted by aigel

To clarify, these folks are not computer savvy, I cannot go send them an "invite" to go get a screening. It needs to be entered by me.

George, go with your gut feelings. If they have a good job, been there for a long time and credits are acceptable, with enough for the first and last months plus security deposit, paycheck stubs check out, look at their bank statements for irregular spending or deposits. I take them. Are they an older couple?

[speeder]

I think that we need a landlords sub forum here, or maybe there is a sub reddit for this? I can't believe how many landlords and landlord questions there are on this OT forum.

[Esel Mann]

Originally Posted by look 171

From what I understand, due to our wonderful Newsome who sign rent control into law, we must rent to section 8 applicants. No question asked. I also hear that credit scores are no longer a valid reason to not rent to perspective tenants. Don't quote me on this. Need to find out myself. I am holding out due to no eviction BS and don't want to deal with that.

how do/did the state pull off mandatory renting to section 8? isn't section 8 a federal program so rules/regs are federal not state?

my understanding is a landlord has to go through an application and housing authority approval process before one can rent to section 8'ers. so if one never goes through the application/process....

[McLovin]

I have quite a few apartment units.
I’ve never run a credit check. Too much potential liability and too many obligations spring from doing that.
I’ve never called their current landlord (useless IMO).
I’ve been doing it a long time. I can start to tell a potentially good or bad tenant from their first communication. Then more by a phone call. After a personal meeting I’m pretty sure. I’m almost never wrong.
I have certain basic questions I ask, and from what they say and how they say it, I can tell a lot,
Other than a developed ability to judge people, and to tell when people are telling the truth or not, the single most objective factor, IMO by far:
How long have they been at their current job?
That tells so much about them. As a person, which is most important, and also about their ability to continue to pay rent.

[McLovin]

Originally Posted by Esel Mann

how do/did the state pull off mandatory renting to section 8? isn't section 8 a federal program so rules/regs are federal not state?

my understanding is a landlord has to go through an application and housing authority approval process before one can rent to section 8'ers. so if one never goes through the application/process....

That’s not quite right.
You don’t have to go through a process before you rent to someone who has a section 8 voucher.
*After* you agree to rent to them, section 8 will do a cursory inspection of the unit. And they get some basic info about you. But that’s it.

[speeder]

Originally Posted by McLovin

I have quite a few apartment units.
I’ve never run a credit check. Too much potential liability and too many obligations spring from doing that.
I’ve never called their current landlord (useless IMO).
I’ve been doing it a long time. I can start to tell a potentially good or bad tenant from their first communication. Then more by a phone call. After a personal meeting I’m pretty sure. I’m almost never wrong.
I have certain basic questions I ask, and from what they say and how they say it, I can tell a lot,
Other than a developed ability to judge people, and to tell when people are telling the truth or not, the single most objective factor, IMO by far:
How long have they been at their current job?
That tells so much about them. As a person, which is most important, and also about their ability to continue to pay rent.

Wow. Quite the judge you must be. I wonder if you would have rented to me? If you asked me how long I'd been at my current job when I rented the apartment I'm sitting in, the answer would have been, "I don't have a steady job."

Since then, I've only paid the rent on time for 22 years and counting plus acquired a lot of wealth and property.

[look 171]

Originally Posted by Esel Mann

how do/did the state pull off mandatory renting to section 8? isn't section 8 a federal program so rules/regs are federal not state?

my understanding is a landlord has to go through an application and housing authority approval process before one can rent to section 8'ers. so if one never goes through the application/process....

We voted it down then a couple months later, our governor signed that into law for the whole state to be under rent control. As a whole, all none single family res are subject to rent control. Some single family homes are under rent control. I wouldn't get into that now. In the city of LA, we have to accept Section 8 applicants, no acceptation.

[McLovin]

Originally Posted by speeder

Wow. Quite the judge you must be. I wonder if you would have rented to me? If you asked me how long I'd been at my current job when I rented the apartment I'm sitting in, the answer would have been, "I don't have a steady job."

Since then, I've only paid the rent on time for 22 years and counting plus acquired a lot of wealth and property.

Probably not.
But that wouldn’t matter to me.
Passing up good renters does no harm. Others will come along.
It’s only letting in bad ones that hurt.

[McLovin]

As far as being quite the judge, I’d say yes, true, thank you.
My record speaks for itself. “Scoreboard,” as they say.
But of course, it’s just one factor. An important one, but just one.
The very last person I rented to a few months ago is a recent college grad with no job at all, at the time (has since found a job, as I guessed would happen).