Tenant Background Checks

Tenant Screening - 5 Things to Do Before Renting Out Your House

Renting your property may seem like an easy way to increase your passive income, but upon starting the process, you may find it to be more complicated than expected. Your house may sit on the market for months without a rental applicant because it is priced above the fair market rent. A bad tenant may be late or outright refuse to pay rent; they have the potential do thousands of dollars in property damage and may ignore your attempts to evict them from the property until authorities are involved.

So how can you avoid the headache of these common difficulties associated with renting a property?

Here are five things to do before renting out your house to reduce the risk and stress of being a new landlord.

Landlord & Property Manager Checklist:

1. Take Photographs of the Property

Photographs of the property are necessary for several reasons. They are an important part of online advertising – otherwise favorable rental listings without pictures of the property are often passed over by potential tenants because they do not want to have to wait for a house tour to find out that the property does not have a layout or design that suits them. These photographs will also be helpful when your future tenants are moving out, as you can use them to measure any property damage that occurred during the rental period.

2. Assess Fair Market Rent

While it may be tempting to charge higher rent to make money back on recent renovations you may have done or moving costs from when you left the property yourself, the best thing to do is conduct market research: check with rental websites, newspapers, local landlords, realtors, and property management companies to determine the amount that properties of similar location, size and condition are renting for.

3. Create a Concise, Effective Rental Application

IAn effective rental application will not intimidate potential renters with its length, but will be comprehensive enough that it can be used for tenant screening and background check purposes. Any additional information that you need from the tenant should they pass screening can be included in the lease documents. A good application will have spaces for the following items:

• Applicant's Full Name
• Date of Birth
• Social Security Number
• Phone Number
• Current/Previous Addresses (last 7 years, including landlord name(s) and contact information)
• Current Employer (name, address, hire date, income, contact information)
• Authorization to Obtain Consumer Report Statement (Credit reports, Background Checks)
• Tenant Applicant's Signature

AAA Credit Screening Services has a simple, free rental application available for landlords to use, just click on RENTAL APPLICATION for the PDF or Online Tenant Application to complete the online form.

4. Consider Using a Property Manager

Property managers will typically charge a percentage of the monthly rent for their services, but in exchange, they will take care of things such as finding new tenants, creating/signing the leases, collecting the rent, and issuing legal notices (including evictions). Hiring a property manager cuts down on the profit you will make from your tenants’ rent payments, so you should carefully consider the cost-benefit of these services.

Tenant Screening Articles

• 5 Things to do before renting out your house
• Eviction Records
• What to expect from "free" background check sites
• Landlords & Property Managers: Using Credit Reports
The Importance of Landlord Credit Checks & Tenant Screening
• Major Credit Bureaus Removing Tax Liens from Credit Reports
• How far back does a criminal record check go?
• Online Background Checks - Do Online Databases Provide Accurate Information?
• How can a candidate's current or past income be verified if the employer won't release salary information?
• Background Checks & Social Media - Using Court Records & not Search Engines or Social Media.
• Key Differences between In-House and Outsourced Background Checks
• Restore your credit rating

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