Imagine the following scenario: you’ve just placed an advertisement for your property and are actively looking for tenants. A prospective tenant pulls up to the property to apply and you notice that they’re driving a moving van or that their vehicle is packed full of stuff, almost as if they’re traveling with their home on their back, so to speak. When you ask when they’re hoping to move in, they tell you they need a place to live immediately.
What does this tell you?
Right away, your “spider sense” should be tingling. If someone’s had to pack up their entire life into a truck and they need immediate housing, it indicates that they had to leave their last residence suddenly. This could mean a number of different things. They may have been evicted or forced to vacate by the authorities. It could indicate a serious lack of pre-planning, like that they let their lease lapse without finding a new residence with enough lead time to move in. They may have missed the deadline to let their previous landlord know they wanted to renew. As you can see, there are many explanations, and not many of them are good.
It’s entirely possible that a tenant had to vacate quickly through no fault of their own. It does happen. This is why it’s so important to always do your due diligence as a landlord and use a tenant screening service so you can make a good decision for your property. A credit screening and eviction history will show you patterns in an applicant’s behavior, such as whether they have difficulty making payments on time or if they have evictions on record. Both screenings offer good insight into whether they’ll be able to handle the responsibility of being your tenant.
Screening services are easier than every to obtain and one of the most effective ways to protect your property and your business. They give you all the information you need to make a good decision about your tenants. Always check your local laws and regulations for which screenings you can use in tenant selection because some cities don’t allow certain information to be used by landlords, such as criminal background checks.
For help in selecting the right tenants for your properties, we recommend our RentalConnect. RentalConnect offers property owners and landlords a great alternative to the expense of full tenant screening. This service requires no on-site visit, sign-up, or membership fees, making it extra convenient. The service fee is paid by the applicant. Available 24/7, RentalConnect is fast, easy, secure, and delivers reports needed to make an informed decision, including a credit report, a national criminal search, and a national eviction search.
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