About 2.7 million households face eviction annually after breaking leases or failing to pay rent. Dealing with evictions is stressful and costly for landlords, but it can fortunately be avoided with professional tenant screening.
Outsourcing the screening process can help you thrive as a landlord. Read on to learn why.
There Are Several Steps
Screening a tenant is a longer process than you might initially think. It requires several steps that will take you quite some time. You'll need to:
- Verify their identity with their government-issued ID and social security number
- Look into their credit history to ensure that they can afford to rent your property
- Get income verification documents and employment records
- Check our their rental history and eviction records to ensure that you can trust them to pay rent and treat the building well
- Make sure they don't have any criminal records (including sex offenses and terrorism-related convictions)
This process could take a landlord without professional tools an hour or more. A property management company will let you avoid that time-consuming and tedious process.
Experts Have Professional Tools
Professional tenant screening services also use top-notch technology to make sure that you get quality tenants. They pay for online database access and fast and accurate screening technology. You'll get quick and accurate results without personally shelling out for expensive software.
Experts also make sure that they're assessing the most up-to-date information. You won't need to worry about accidentally making decisions based on outdated or inaccurate online information.
They Understand Legalities
Landlords need to follow Fair Housing Laws to a T. You can't even look like you're discriminating based on a protected class. Some of these classes include but are not limited to race, religion, sexual orientation, and national origin.
Case-by-case evaluation is very important. Someone without any subconscious biases needs to complete the screening to avoid any discrimination. You won't risk getting attached to certain tenants, which means that you won't need to fear breaking any tenant-related laws.
It will be out of your hands and outside of your worries!
You Can Prevent Evictions
Evictions are complicated, messy, and often expensive. You may need to hire a lawyer, which wastes a lot of time and money.
Luckily, eviction records are a huge part of the tenant screening process. Since these records are the best indicator for what may happen in the future.
With expert knowledge and tools, professional tenant screeners will make sure that you don't accidentally approve high-risk tenants. This is a fast and easy way to minimize your chances of having to go through the evictions process.
Outsourced Tenant Screening Saves Time
When you work with a tenant screening company, you'll get all the information as quickly as possible. What would take you weeks to find would take an experienced professional hours.
This means that you can rent out the property sooner and avoid vacancy. Tenants will also be less likely to get frustrated with waiting and look for a new place. You won't waste money because your property is sitting empty for long periods of time.
Get Started
Tenant screening is a challenging and grueling process. Outsourcing this task allows you to rest easy while understanding that you'll get quality tenants who pay rent regularly and treat your property well. Schedule a consultation to learn more about how a property management company in Akron can help you thrive as a landlord.
