Resident Screening Criteria
Posted in California Property Management By Richard Greenwood, Saturday, March 15, 2008.With so many potential residents coming out of foreclosures with impaired credit, what criteria are property managers are using to screen for tenants? We look for stable employment with income equal to 3X the rent and a history of paying bills on time. Also, no UDs.
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Submitted by William White on March 31, 2008 - 3:33am.
Having looked at a few single family short sales on the market, the physical condition is terrible. Is there a way to see how the tenants coming out of foreclosure treated their homes. If a foreclosue home owner trashed a place, how do I find out before I move them into one of my rentals?
Submitted by Wallace Gibson CPM on March 31, 2008 - 3:50am.
40 years of property management experience...age and experience trumps youth and enthusiasm every time!!!
Drive by the property and visit the HOUSE...check the MLS to see if it was listed for sale before foreclosure and check the pictures; then talk to the agent if you know them. Frankly, if someone does not care about the HOME THEY OWN enough to stay out of foreclosure, I would not want them in one of my rental homes.....
The BIGGER issue is that after foreclosure, comes bankruptcy so you certainly don't want to be dealing with this in one of your clients' homes.
Submitted by Jessica Hickok on September 16, 2008 - 6:00pm.
Youth and enthusiasm turns into age and experience. Who cares who trumps who?
9 years in property management has taught me that you can't judge a tenant by credit score. Look at job history, court record history and check social networking pages (Facebook and MySpace)...you can learn a lot about people that way. Just a few ideas.
Submitted by Susan Carrell on February 7, 2009 - 10:41pm.
I am in Sonoma County CA. We have a very high rate of foreclosures here. So many are in the Hispanic comuunity. I look at the house and call the employers. I don't refuse them because of credit nicks. I also look at the house they are being removed from. In some cases, I call personal references, local family members,etc. I give them every break I can. They are having a rough enough time, without me adding to their trials. Basically, I look at the whole picture and keep my fingers crossed at night while I sleep.
Submitted by Melissa Haole on February 13, 2009 - 7:06am.
I work for a company that has provided Resident Screening to the Multifamily Housing Industry since 1989 and we addressed the question of renting to applicants with forclosures in the March 2008 issue of our monthly newsletter. Past copies of our newsletter can be found at http://www.rentgrow.com/Resource-Center-Newsletter.asp