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AugustaBride04
member
NBR: Rental property
AugustaBride04
member
I know several of you have rental properties and looking for some input. If you do it yourself how do you screen the applicants? Do you run a background check and credit check? What kind of info do you get from them? Do you get references? Copy of drivers license? What type of rental agreement do you use? Sorry for all the questions, but we want to do this right. If you feel more comfortable you can email me at christielmyers at gmail dot com or facebook me. We've got someone very interested in our townhouse so keep your fingers crossed for us!
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Re: NBR: Rental property
We typically require a $50 background check fee. DH uses a standard form that he found online--he has tenants fill out. They have to provide their DL, and references. We always check their personal references and verify where they lived last.
we didn't get into the credit check.
We use the regular GA rental agreement--if you can't find it online, DH can fax it to you. Email me whatever questions you have.
We've been renting our condos out for about 7 years and we rented our house out when we lived in FL.
I always go with my gut feeling too on renters. I love nerdy newlyweds...they make the best renters.
Have the tenant get their own credit score and email or fax all pages to you.
As for background checks here are a couple of companies you can use. Do not skip this process.
www.screeningworks.com
www.tenantcheck.com
www.ntnonline.com
https://www.citicredit.net/tenant-credit-check.html
Your association may have this information as well as a lease that you are required to use. (mine does)
Also, if you want to make it really easy on yourself you can get a rental agent and they will find you a renter and handle all of the paperwork. You give up a month's rent usually as fee but it helps not to have the brain drain sometimes.
mine too. start there on the lease agreement.
I own rental property and am also a Realtor who manages rental property for clients. I do a full credit & reference check. Each adult tenant has to fill out a rental application (which is a standard Georgia Association of Realtors application) and pay a non-refundable $50 fee - if they aren't willing/able to put up $50, then I assume they are not serious and go on to the next interested party. I then pull credit on each applicant (so, they have to provide a copy of their DL and their SSN) and call references for each one. They also have to provide the last 2 paystubs, which I then verify their accuracy directly with the employer.
I am very upfront with people who are interested. I let them know that if they have any credit issues, they likely won't qualify. I also make sure that the monthly rent amount is less than 40% of their gross take home salary. The rental market is excellent right now (from a landlord's point of view) so take your time to be picky, there is nothing worse than bad tenants!
The lease agreement I use is also a GAR form and is *very* extensive and covers pretty much every possibility. Make sure you do a move-in/move-out inspection (with documentation) as well. They have to pay one month's rent at lease signing to act as their security deposit and to hold the property for them. i.e. if they want the property and sign a lease on October 5th, which is not set to begin until December 1st, they have to pay one-month's rent on 10/5 (non-refundable) to hold the place for them, and once the lease commences that money acts as their security deposit. They can cancel prior to the lease starting, but they are out that $. Keeps people honest.
Email me if you have any questions at alix.nadi at gmail.com!
Good luck!
I actually don't recommend this and will not accept it from applicants. I run my own credit. My experience has been that the applicants who provide their own credit checks are trying to hide something, and when I run their credit it (shockingly) never matches up. Perhaps I am jaded, but I have been doing this for quite a while and I have seen all sorts. Finding good tenants is tough!