September 2008
What to do when renting out a foreclosure
You have just purchased your first foreclosure to rent out and are trying to decide what to do next. Well what I always do is put a for rent sign out in the front yard, put a for rent ad in the local newspaper and if it is avaliable in your area you can put a free ad on craigslist. You will want to have your potential tenant to fill out and sign a rental application form this form gives you permission to perform a couple of different tenant backgroundchecks one of these background checks will always be a tenant credit check. I refer to rentlaw.com if I ever have any tenant-landlord questions. To save yourself a lot of problems it is a good idea to look over the rental application to make sure the form is filled out completely, is legible and signed by all parties. That way you won’t have to go back to clarify the information later.
This is how I became sucessful as a landlord
I bought my first rental property back in 1992. I had not a clue what I was doing. I came across a very nice young couple that wanted to lease my rental house they seemed like a very good risk very clean, good jobs so I decided not to do a background screening on them, why waste the money they seemed so nice. The leased my property for 2 years never had any major problems until 1 day the police came and arrested him for murdering his probation officer. No I had not run a police check because they seemed like such a nice young couple. Little did I know this person had murdered someone and had he murdered someone in the neighborhood of my rental property I could have been held liable for not doing a proper police check. For more information on this topic you can go to www.landlord.com
Things you should look for when hiring a new employee
I do a employee background on all of my new hires. It is a good practice to obtain a copy of a picture ID from the potential employee to make sure that the online background check is run with the correct information. Just because they have given you their information it does not mean it is correct. I have seen the information changed up, tansposed and all sorts of combinations of information none of which were correct. A picture ID is not perfect but it is a good source of identification. I use a company called www.instantbackgroundchecks.us to run my checks. They are very fast and it is a easy to use website.
Tenant background check
Police check also known as a criminal background check can avoid a lot of problems down the road with your rental property. I always do a police check on all tenants before I lease to them. I have come across load of DWI’S , assaults, even a few murders. You absolutely want to know these things before you have someone move into your rental property. It is also a good idea to do tenant credit check to see of they are paying there bills or if you are the next creditor in line. I recommend a credit score of 640 or above. Below that you are probably asking to take on someone else’s problems. I have used a company for the past 13 years www.quickbackgroundchecks.com there site is easy to use and I get the reports in seconds. I estimate they have saved me thousands of dollars over the years.
Employer background checks
Background screening by employers is on the rise. There are many reasons a employer might perform a employer background check. Negligent hiring lawsuits are on the rise. If a companies employee hurts someone on the job the employer can be held liable.
A employer may choose to do a background check on its officers and directors as a result of what happened with the Enron crisis. To see if there is any history of fraud, theft etc.
There are some jobs that fall under federal and state laws that require background checks be done. For more information on background checks and privacy rights you can visit www.privacyrights.org.
Criminal background checks
A police check is very important before you lease to a new tenant. I want to know if they have any assault charges, drug charges, Dui’s. If they do have assault charges they might have anger issues, drug charges they might be dealing drugs in my property, Dui’s they might have a drinking problem. These online background checks can resolve all of these potential issues. You can go to about.com with more landlord issues and answers.
Online background check on Tenants
Tenant screening online is becoming the fastest way of screening and approving tenants on site . If you can approve a tenant on site it reduces the chances of them going elsewhere and leasing from someone else. Many individual property owners are approving tenants on site with laptop computers. You can just run there tenant credit check and criminal record before they leave the property. According to landlord.com the 2-3 day wait for background check results is becoming a thing of the past.
Employment screening credit report
There are many companies out there that do a credit report for employees however in order to be in compliance with the Fair Credit Reporting Act all credit reports on employee must be pulled for that purpose. These reports by federal law have no credit scores on them and also provide all governmental agencies to contact if there is a dispute with the report. There are only a few companies that actually pull these reports and comply with the FCRA. www.quickbackgroundchecks.com is one of those companies. I have used this company for many years to run employment backgroundchecks. They come back in seconds and are very easy to read. If find this a very helpful tool in hiring new employees it has saved me thousands of dollars in questionable employees.
Tenant screening in Texas
Tenant Screening in Texas is a standard procedure says Dodie Murphy owner of Tenant screening services LLC.
It assures a higher quality resident by checking for higher credit scores (the credit score should be 650 or above) criminal records including drug offenses, assault problems all of which could be of liability to the property owner. Ms. Murphy also states that it is a federal law to have a signed release for all background checks performed. www.instantbackgroundchecks.us is a excellent source for fast accurate Tenant Screening.