Tenant Screening
Check out your state's Apartment Association. They provide forms (such as rental applications) which they have gone to great lengths to insure legality. Usually they are free, but if you have to join to have access to the forms, the cost is small compared to what you can get in return. In California, I can post to a legal board for free and lawyers will answer any legal questions not covered under the thousands of articles posted on the site. Also I receive a magazine every couple of months geared toward landlording. I also receive an invitation to their monthly dinner meeting in my town.
There are also many online tenant screening services. Once you are set up, it is a breeze to check on your prospective tenant. Also, check your phone book for eviction services, tenant screening, and paralegals. I have a local person do all my screening. She has a private database she has compiled over the last 25 years that no court documents could ever compare to!
I do a credit check and an eviction check (UD check). More and more people are doing criminal background checks, but I invest in the low-end market and I figure if they have at least OK credit and haven't been evicted, that's enough for me. (I've had good luck and only had to evict one tenant). I also verify they work where they say they work and ask for the last two pay stubs and a copy of their driver's license or ID card and call ALL references and past landlords. I also drive by the place where they are currently living (are they moving up in the world? Do they mow the lawn? etc)
Hope this helps!
Shirley 
Comments(0)