Comments on: How I Do Tenant Background Checks

By: TheLandlord

TheLandlord — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 20:49:19 +0000

Leslie,
We stopped using e-renter.com when they stopped offering a full credit history. The “scoring” system they use is too nebulous. Now I require that my tenants pull their own credit and submit that with the rental application.

By: Leslie Connor

Leslie Connor — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 00:35:56 +0000

We use e-renter.com and have never had any issues. The service is really good and the customer support is wonderful. Definitely use a 3rd party like E-renter for the tenant screening. You’ll regret it otherwise.

Thanks,
LC

By: Rich

Rich — Sun, 21 Mar 2010 05:04:26 +0000

Yes sir…due diligence. A good application and credit/background check will pretty much (not always) tell the story.

I used a credit check company that has since been bought out by Equifax. So, not sure if it is easy to get hooked up with them. I pay $8 for credit and $5 for criminal background. Also, check prices at your local Apartment association.

By: Marvia Thompson

Marvia Thompson — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 22:18:20 +0000

I do agree with most of what was said. I use to work for property mangement companies and I could no longer tolerate the way they treat the tenants and owners. Lies and deceiving… letting things get worse and worse. I love helping people find their home so I became a real estate agent. I am doing tenant placement for one of my listings, and was looking for recomendations of which screening company to use. I had narrowed it down to e-renter or citiCredit. Glad to see recommendations for e-renter, has anyone used citicredit? I do like the mybackgroundcheck recommended, but it looks to be expensive for what you get. I want to find a good tenant for my owner, but I also don’t want to charge them a ton of money… especially now a days just because people can’t afford 60 something dollars for a credit check does not mean they will be bad tenants. I do like the idea that I don’t have to collect money and deal with accounting for it. That part would make things a lot easier…

By: Tami Bettendorf

Tami Bettendorf — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 22:31:11 +0000

While it is important NOT to make decision based on appearances, it is even MORE important to be absolutely sure you have documentation of Date of Birth. Once of the best resources for this information is Drivers License. So long as you are taking and making a copy of every drivers license of every applicant who walks through your door, you should be fine from a fair housing standpoint.

Why is Date of Birth so important?
Public records (to include Criminal and Civil information) are stored on Name and Date of Birth match ONLY. At no point do the tools used for finding this information take Social Security Number into consideration.

If the date of birth being used to find information or provided to your screening company is off, by even a day, or a number is reversed (12 vs. 21), the records may be missed. Could be the difference of a good tenant vs. a very bad one.

By: Wesley Fisher

Wesley Fisher — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 18:20:02 +0000

I would caution you to NOT make decisions based on appearances. That can get you in quite a bit of trouble. You need to get information from INDEPENDENT resources such as the Consumer Reporting Agency you’re using. I’ve used several different agencies in the past, but found E-Renter (www.e-renter.com) to be the best of the bunch so I’m surprised you want to switch. Good luck,

W Fisher

By: Bruce Berry

Bruce Berry — Mon, 31 Dec 2007 14:52:53 +0000

Marie Simpson
Beautiful, absolutely perfect solution. Thank-you
I have been a landlord for 25 years.
It puts the responsibility on the prospective tenant where it belongs.
The renter can take it to the next apartment, he has not commited his money soley to your credit check.

By: Milagro

Milagro — Fri, 14 Dec 2007 14:57:08 +0000

“In the past, we�ve found that management companies themselves need to be managed. They�re not a �deploy and forget� solution.” This rings very true. There are dozens of ways that a management company can suck money out of a large rental property by letting it deteriorate, while keeping it hidden from the owner. Maintenance is a big one, and renting to at risk tenants it also big.

Background check is a must do. However there are laws, like the Fair Credit Reporting Act that limit how and what you can do for your background search on a prospective tenant. This is particularly true if you purchase your background check from a 3rd party like http://www.BackgroundSearch.com, or any of the online background check companies.

By: Bruce

Bruce — Fri, 27 Jul 2007 15:43:02 +0000

Kent,
To answer your question: At this time we do not use a management company. In the past, we’ve found that management companies themselves need to be managed. They’re not a “deploy and forget” solution.

Our experience is that they tend to spend money like it’s water because it’s not theirs. They also tend to make brain-dead maintenance decisions sometimes thereby spending too much money.

The most time-consuming activity, I find, is maintenance because pretty much everything else can be done from my office desk with the exception of showing the properties.

Also, all of our properties are single-family homes so there’s a lot of driving involved.

By: Kent

Kent — Fri, 27 Jul 2007 14:48:31 +0000

Good point. This is a 12 unit building in a very desireable area and appears to have a fairly low turnover. Maybe I can handle it myself. I’m not sure yet. I figure I can always try it, and if it becomes too time consuming I can turn it over to a management company.

Do you use management companies for any of your properties? Also, which part of managing your own properties do you find most time consuming? Tenant screening? Marketing? Repair? etc.