Tenant Screening

Is there something like the ideal tenant? You bet there is! But, as a house owner, finding this type of a tenant can be quite challenging. A good tenant would mean good returns.

On the other hand, you have the other kinds of tenants – the bad tenants. Have you thought about all the trauma caused by a bad tenant? For starters, a bad tenant would probably default on the monthly rent payments or would just not pay on the fixed date each month.

So, if you are depending on the monthly rent to meet your expenses, then a bad tenant would be real bad news for you. Then, who would fit the bill? Typically, renting your place out to a company would obliterate this problem, since most companies tend to meet their commitments, especially if it is a reputed company. The second thumb-rule when it comes to choosing a tenant is to select someone who works in one of those larger, well-established companies – he or she will probably have a steady income and will not have as many financial problems.

Even if the money is the biggest of all your concerns, just picture having a tenant who ruins your beautiful home by drilling holes in the walls or spoiling the furniture and woodwork that you put in with your hard-earned money. Your home is the reflection of your personality and you’d certainly want your tenant to take care of it too. So, you’ll probably need to find someone who wont damage your home. How to pick such a tenant? Would a family with a couple of small kids do? Or would the kids ruin the walls with their crayons and watercolors? This next one is indeed subjective, but a large family of adults would by and large take better care of your home – although some adults can also be very messy! Another nightmare that most house owners have to face is those tenants who refuse to vacate the house.

Since you cant leave your home vacant, it is always best to do a background check on the person you want to rent your home to. Ideally, it would do you good to find someone who is known to you or is known to a friend or relative. Another good option is to rent your home out to people working in transferable jobs and who wont establish their roots in the city, and in your home!

Apart from these tips, there are other important tips to help you during your tenant screening:

• Make sure you get the Paperwork right – prepare a rent agreement on legitimate stamp paper and make sure you outline all the terms and conditions for using your property. The agreement however should be clear about the renewal options, term of lease, advance rent, costs towards repair, damages and maintenance of the property. The agreement has to be signed by the tenant as well as the landlord.
• Use a professional screening service – registering at a real estate screening service will save you on all that time and trouble that it would take to show your house to scores of potential tenants, or calling on regular tenants to collect the monthly rent. The real estate agent or screening service will do this for you.

Tenant Screening Services
The whole process of finding the right rental apartment or house can range from being downright hectic to almost impossible. But it could have been worse: imagine finding that long-sought after townhouse or apartment only to get rejected by the prospective landlord because you got a negative report from a far-off company that you never even knew existed. Sounds like a nightmare doesn’t it? Unfortunately, for most people living in the United States, it’s real.

Most landlords today, particularly those who supervise large apartment buildings are now relying on tenant screening services and bureaus to conduct background checks on potential tenants.

These services in turn gather information from police blotters, court records, credit bureaus (tenant credit screening), and many other sources to identify and single out risky tenants before they become real headaches. Sounds good right? Now we come to the flip side.

Unfortunately, because of the way in which these services gather and store their information, many responsible tenants could also be branded as bad tenants and this poses as a serious disadvantage in some of the tight rental markets. As with nearly all matters concerning money, one of the best ways to determine whether you will pass the tenant screening check or not is to check up on your credit history.

Tenant screening services gather information from a surprisingly large range of sources, including state governments, utility companies and even clerks of court.

So, hiring the services of any of these bureaus is indeed worth your time and money. It certainly pays to do your homework before you let your house out on rent.