OT: Tenant Screening

[(former)FormerSanDiegan]

Are you looking for screening services for tenants you have identified or are you looking for a company to market the property, identify and screen tenants ?

I use a full-time property management service: American Heritage Properties (renthomes.com)
However, if you do not want full-time management, you can pay a little less for them to market and place tenants in your property.

They typically charge 10% of rent for full-time mgmt and something like 5-7% for placement services. Yes they really do about 60-70% (or more) of their work during vacancies, depending on the neediness of the tenant.

I am sure other management comapnies offer similar services.

If you only want screening services after you have potential tenants, you should pay considerably less for this, but not sure if they do this service.

If this is your first rental, I would recommend using a PM service at least for screening and placing tenants, unless your situation warrants otherwise.

[kicksavedave]

As a brand new landlord I found and screened my first tenants. They were horrendous, liars and deadbeats and I evicted them after about 4 months (in Colorado evictions take two weeks, yay). Turned out the credit report she had sent me was forged.

After that I used a PM service to find, screen and manage the property. Since then I’ve had two wonderful tenants who pay on time and take care of the house. If I was local I’d use them to find and screen only, but since I’m 1000 miles away I have them do the ongoing management too. Its been worth it and its a deductible expense, so their fees are reduced by your tax bracket (roughly)

I’d use the help of the pro’s, especially if you are new to the game.

[kicksavedave]

As a brand new landlord I found and screened my first tenants. They were horrendous, liars and deadbeats and I evicted them after about 4 months (in Colorado evictions take two weeks, yay). Turned out the credit report she had sent me was forged.

After that I used a PM service to find, screen and manage the property. Since then I’ve had two wonderful tenants who pay on time and take care of the house. If I was local I’d use them to find and screen only, but since I’m 1000 miles away I have them do the ongoing management too. Its been worth it and its a deductible expense, so their fees are reduced by your tax bracket (roughly)

I’d use the help of the pro’s, especially if you are new to the game.

[kicksavedave]

As a brand new landlord I found and screened my first tenants. They were horrendous, liars and deadbeats and I evicted them after about 4 months (in Colorado evictions take two weeks, yay). Turned out the credit report she had sent me was forged.

After that I used a PM service to find, screen and manage the property. Since then I’ve had two wonderful tenants who pay on time and take care of the house. If I was local I’d use them to find and screen only, but since I’m 1000 miles away I have them do the ongoing management too. Its been worth it and its a deductible expense, so their fees are reduced by your tax bracket (roughly)

I’d use the help of the pro’s, especially if you are new to the game.

[kicksavedave]

As a brand new landlord I found and screened my first tenants. They were horrendous, liars and deadbeats and I evicted them after about 4 months (in Colorado evictions take two weeks, yay). Turned out the credit report she had sent me was forged.

After that I used a PM service to find, screen and manage the property. Since then I’ve had two wonderful tenants who pay on time and take care of the house. If I was local I’d use them to find and screen only, but since I’m 1000 miles away I have them do the ongoing management too. Its been worth it and its a deductible expense, so their fees are reduced by your tax bracket (roughly)

I’d use the help of the pro’s, especially if you are new to the game.

[kicksavedave]

As a brand new landlord I found and screened my first tenants. They were horrendous, liars and deadbeats and I evicted them after about 4 months (in Colorado evictions take two weeks, yay). Turned out the credit report she had sent me was forged.

After that I used a PM service to find, screen and manage the property. Since then I’ve had two wonderful tenants who pay on time and take care of the house. If I was local I’d use them to find and screen only, but since I’m 1000 miles away I have them do the ongoing management too. Its been worth it and its a deductible expense, so their fees are reduced by your tax bracket (roughly)

I’d use the help of the pro’s, especially if you are new to the game.

[EconProf]

Here is a cheap solution. Do you have any friends who are long-time landlords? Ask them to look over your rental application(s), look for red flags, call applicants and ask follow-up questions, etc.

[EconProf]

Here is a cheap solution. Do you have any friends who are long-time landlords? Ask them to look over your rental application(s), look for red flags, call applicants and ask follow-up questions, etc.

[EconProf]

Here is a cheap solution. Do you have any friends who are long-time landlords? Ask them to look over your rental application(s), look for red flags, call applicants and ask follow-up questions, etc.

[EconProf]

Here is a cheap solution. Do you have any friends who are long-time landlords? Ask them to look over your rental application(s), look for red flags, call applicants and ask follow-up questions, etc.

[EconProf]

Here is a cheap solution. Do you have any friends who are long-time landlords? Ask them to look over your rental application(s), look for red flags, call applicants and ask follow-up questions, etc.

[exsdgal]

Thanks for the suggestions. In the past I used scored reports and was not too happy with the details. Also during the process learnt that the applicants were not completely honest.

Now that I am back for a do-over, I looked into Sdcaa (thanks!) and aoausa. Currently comparing the different services offered and hope to use one of them for screening the applicants.

[exsdgal]

Thanks for the suggestions. In the past I used scored reports and was not too happy with the details. Also during the process learnt that the applicants were not completely honest.

Now that I am back for a do-over, I looked into Sdcaa (thanks!) and aoausa. Currently comparing the different services offered and hope to use one of them for screening the applicants.

[exsdgal]

Thanks for the suggestions. In the past I used scored reports and was not too happy with the details. Also during the process learnt that the applicants were not completely honest.

Now that I am back for a do-over, I looked into Sdcaa (thanks!) and aoausa. Currently comparing the different services offered and hope to use one of them for screening the applicants.

[exsdgal]

Thanks for the suggestions. In the past I used scored reports and was not too happy with the details. Also during the process learnt that the applicants were not completely honest.

Now that I am back for a do-over, I looked into Sdcaa (thanks!) and aoausa. Currently comparing the different services offered and hope to use one of them for screening the applicants.

[Author]

Posts