Screening applicants/potential tenants is the single most important element of landlording in my opinion. As I have mentioned in prior posts, if you properly screen your applicants you will have a better chance of finding a good tenant that pays rent on time and does not abuse your investment property.
Landlords should require each adult person to completely fill out a written rental application. After you have all this good information about your applicant you now need to confirm that info. You have not conducted a thorough screening until you have confirmed all of the information that was provided to you in the application.
Some of that info is more important than others. In my experience the most important information that you need to confirm about a potential tenant is: (1) the applicant’s current and prior rental history, (2) the applicant’s employment information, and (3) whether or not the applicant has been evicted, had a money judgment taken against them, or been charged/convicted with a crime — this information, at least for now, can be obtained through CCAP. Read the rest of this entry »