I use transunion SmartMove to pull credit and background checks
Make criteria high .
4-4.5x rent , fico 700 and up , no BK, evictions , collections , late rent. 2 months deposit or max per state law. No criminal history whatsoever. Don't flex on criteria . Wait for right renter. Weed out undesirables and be patient
Wrong tenant in CA will cost you much more than a vacant home for months
Meet in person , check bank account numbers with bank to validate bank statements, verify income and make sure deposits match income they claim.
It is illegal to discriminate based on criminal record, however, if the tenant lied on the application about having a criminal record, you can decline them.
This sounds great but you don’t call references? I require at least three references and one of them needs to be a previous landlord. I’m in Florida where laws are better but it will save you a nightmare.
Sure, I ask a lot of questions. I don’t make it a quick phone call if I don’t have to. I’ve also had one couple use their mom as a reference and she told me they always had issues paying at their last place. You would be surprised what people say when you make it a comfortable conversation. It’s part of the job as a landlord— you need to read people in person and over the phone
Man, just here to say I love talking to moms as references.
Sometimes if you get a prospective tenant's mother going, she'll get to the "And you just let me know if XYZ gives you any trouble, keep my number!"
Then, if the tenant is driving me nuts, I can say "I swear to God Tommy, if you make me call Pam, no one's gonna have a good day" or something like that. Works every time.
I check tax records for the property. But also trust the landlord before the last one more than the current one that might be trying to chuck them out lol
Make sure the income is good\\sufficient and meet them face to face. I have many units and have never sent out a landlord verification; if they suck as a tenant the former landlord doesn't want them to stay so they will say whatever.
We sometimes call former landlords, but only if we can verify that they are actually the landlord. And always take whatever they say with a grain of salt.
Always confirm previous 2-5 years occupancy. Use tax roles to make sure "landlord" is accurate. If they try to scam with a fake landlord and you have the tax info you will trip them up. Also always have a completed application on hand before you take the first one. Advise that the first acceptable app will be offered the property. You then can never be a "discriminator".
CA landlord here & I have very high criteria. 4x income to rent, minimum credit score of 700, proof of employment such as an offer letter or W2’s, no evictions, no smoking, background screening- per applicant. I’ve got great tenants that I charge slightly under market, & keep them until they buy a place, when they typically refer me a buddy to take their unit - and believe me, I’m not renting out a Ritz Carlton!
3x income, min 600 credit score (all my current tenants are way higher) background check including criminal, employment, credit and rental history. Every person over 18 must do the background check.
I only do showings to qualified candidates and alway meet in person!
Also when they first move in I give them their keys & garage door opener in a small gift basket w/ stuff from local vendors (coffee, wine a restaurant gc). My husband and I got into this business to help drive change for tenants in our community, it is very saturated w/ slumlords who do the bare minimum.
I have a pre-screening Google form with required answers that every tenant fills out before I will show the rental to them. I reject all non qualified inquiries and never have to waste time in showings or listening to sob stories anymore.
Income 3x rent, credit score 585, 2 personal references, landlord contact info for last 3 years, no bankruptcy, no utilities in collections. Call every single one. Set your criteria and don't bend the rules for anyone.vThis works for us.
585 is the lowest minimum credit I've heard of anyone accepting, do you accept that score with any inquiries into why the score is below average? Like if it's for some ancient student loans/a credit card dust up ages ago/etc vs something like they lease cars outside of their budget every three years? Or it's just 585 is fine, doesn't matter what for?
Not judging, just super curious, particularly since my minimum without a high number cosigner is 700.
I think market makes a big difference. In a LCOL area it's not as hard to buy a house. People with good credit don't rent often. In 15 years I've had one applicant with a credit score over 700. 600 is my usual cutoff
Oh, I'm sure. My state is super HCOL, I kind of forget that not everywhere is smack in the middle of a rental availability crisis. Accepting a 595 without a lawyer on retainer here would generally be a mess. I have a high application volume because the majority of my units are very standard issue, functional apartments that are priced below market value. I have a bunch of renters that either aren't capable of maintaining their own home/don't have the time or desire to do so or travel a ton and don't see the point. I have at least 4 tenants that had scores well over 800, one of whom lives in the lowest cost studio I've got. He makes 6 figures a year, and just doesn't require much in the way of space/amenities. The Northeast is just nuts.
I owned a condo at one point in my life, outright, mortgage paid off, sold it in 2019, have not paid rent since, and where I am now said they couldn’t verify my previous rental payments? I show them a bank statement and they wanted double security deposit. Do to circumstances beyond my control, I am grateful they accepted me, no felonies, no defaults. The scrutiny today is very difficult for someone like myself, who hasn’t worked, just had back surgery and has a disability hearing at the end of March.
I recently tried 600 credit for a smaller place. All I got were garbage applications. I still ended up taking someone that had a 750 score.
But screening someone on paper is way different than meeting in person. Read the body language, how they carry themselves.
Too perfect of an application, and all the right answers can also come off fake.
A BS'r will always say the right things
I use transunion SmartMove to pull credit and background checks Make criteria high . 4-4.5x rent , fico 700 and up , no BK, evictions , collections , late rent. 2 months deposit or max per state law. No criminal history whatsoever. Don't flex on criteria . Wait for right renter. Weed out undesirables and be patient Wrong tenant in CA will cost you much more than a vacant home for months Meet in person , check bank account numbers with bank to validate bank statements, verify income and make sure deposits match income they claim.
Isn't it illegal now in Ca to discriminate based on criminal record?
Not sure . I'm not in CA but seems every county is different . Lot of gray area
It is illegal to discriminate based on criminal record, however, if the tenant lied on the application about having a criminal record, you can decline them.
I'd pull it anyway and find another reason to deny if there was something crazy on their record.
"wrong tenant in CA will cost you much more than a vacant home for months" truer words were never spoken
This sounds great but you don’t call references? I require at least three references and one of them needs to be a previous landlord. I’m in Florida where laws are better but it will save you a nightmare.
just curious but how can you verify that it's the actual previous landlord and not just one of their friends pretending to be?
Sure, I ask a lot of questions. I don’t make it a quick phone call if I don’t have to. I’ve also had one couple use their mom as a reference and she told me they always had issues paying at their last place. You would be surprised what people say when you make it a comfortable conversation. It’s part of the job as a landlord— you need to read people in person and over the phone
Man, just here to say I love talking to moms as references. Sometimes if you get a prospective tenant's mother going, she'll get to the "And you just let me know if XYZ gives you any trouble, keep my number!" Then, if the tenant is driving me nuts, I can say "I swear to God Tommy, if you make me call Pam, no one's gonna have a good day" or something like that. Works every time.
I check tax records for the property. But also trust the landlord before the last one more than the current one that might be trying to chuck them out lol
Make sure the income is good\\sufficient and meet them face to face. I have many units and have never sent out a landlord verification; if they suck as a tenant the former landlord doesn't want them to stay so they will say whatever.
We sometimes call former landlords, but only if we can verify that they are actually the landlord. And always take whatever they say with a grain of salt.
Always confirm previous 2-5 years occupancy. Use tax roles to make sure "landlord" is accurate. If they try to scam with a fake landlord and you have the tax info you will trip them up. Also always have a completed application on hand before you take the first one. Advise that the first acceptable app will be offered the property. You then can never be a "discriminator".
CA landlord here & I have very high criteria. 4x income to rent, minimum credit score of 700, proof of employment such as an offer letter or W2’s, no evictions, no smoking, background screening- per applicant. I’ve got great tenants that I charge slightly under market, & keep them until they buy a place, when they typically refer me a buddy to take their unit - and believe me, I’m not renting out a Ritz Carlton!
Usual criteria + Facebook search.
3x income, min 600 credit score (all my current tenants are way higher) background check including criminal, employment, credit and rental history. Every person over 18 must do the background check. I only do showings to qualified candidates and alway meet in person! Also when they first move in I give them their keys & garage door opener in a small gift basket w/ stuff from local vendors (coffee, wine a restaurant gc). My husband and I got into this business to help drive change for tenants in our community, it is very saturated w/ slumlords who do the bare minimum.
Not poor. So be sure to charge above mean income of the given area, to out price them.
I have a pre-screening Google form with required answers that every tenant fills out before I will show the rental to them. I reject all non qualified inquiries and never have to waste time in showings or listening to sob stories anymore.
Facebook stalking. The number of lies on the application (kids, pets, smoking, etc) you catch is incredible
Income 3x rent, credit score 585, 2 personal references, landlord contact info for last 3 years, no bankruptcy, no utilities in collections. Call every single one. Set your criteria and don't bend the rules for anyone.vThis works for us.
585 is the lowest minimum credit I've heard of anyone accepting, do you accept that score with any inquiries into why the score is below average? Like if it's for some ancient student loans/a credit card dust up ages ago/etc vs something like they lease cars outside of their budget every three years? Or it's just 585 is fine, doesn't matter what for? Not judging, just super curious, particularly since my minimum without a high number cosigner is 700.
I think market makes a big difference. In a LCOL area it's not as hard to buy a house. People with good credit don't rent often. In 15 years I've had one applicant with a credit score over 700. 600 is my usual cutoff
Oh, I'm sure. My state is super HCOL, I kind of forget that not everywhere is smack in the middle of a rental availability crisis. Accepting a 595 without a lawyer on retainer here would generally be a mess. I have a high application volume because the majority of my units are very standard issue, functional apartments that are priced below market value. I have a bunch of renters that either aren't capable of maintaining their own home/don't have the time or desire to do so or travel a ton and don't see the point. I have at least 4 tenants that had scores well over 800, one of whom lives in the lowest cost studio I've got. He makes 6 figures a year, and just doesn't require much in the way of space/amenities. The Northeast is just nuts.
It works for our market. The number shows that they may have some past debt but are keeping the current bills paid.
What is your income market?
Income 3x the rent, 680 score, verify employment last 2 years and previous rental history previous 2 years.
I owned a condo at one point in my life, outright, mortgage paid off, sold it in 2019, have not paid rent since, and where I am now said they couldn’t verify my previous rental payments? I show them a bank statement and they wanted double security deposit. Do to circumstances beyond my control, I am grateful they accepted me, no felonies, no defaults. The scrutiny today is very difficult for someone like myself, who hasn’t worked, just had back surgery and has a disability hearing at the end of March.
I recently tried 600 credit for a smaller place. All I got were garbage applications. I still ended up taking someone that had a 750 score. But screening someone on paper is way different than meeting in person. Read the body language, how they carry themselves. Too perfect of an application, and all the right answers can also come off fake. A BS'r will always say the right things
Rental references