Tag Archives: Credit Checks

Tenant Screening Made Easy for Corporate Housing Landlords

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tenant screening and background checkEvery so often I like to blog about a value-added feature CHBO offers its members. Today I’d like to talk about the importance of  tenant screening and how to do it.

Too often, landlords will skip the credit check and background check, likely due to cost or they don’t know how to do it. CHBO takes the guess work out of the process through it’s partnership with TransUnion’s MySmartMove program.

To run a credit or background check on your tenant, simply visit MySmartMove page at https://chbo.mysmartmove.com. CHBO has pre-negotiated rates for all CHBO members to take advantage of – score!

The benefits of our tenant screening partnership program include:

Affordable Checks. Running a simple credit and criminal background check only costs $20 through this program. The report will include credit-based leasing recommendations, security deposit recommendations, a criminal history report, renter fraud warnings and automated renter identity verification.  For an additional $5, you’ll also receive immediate access to a credit report, a viewable credit score for the applicant and a detailed rental address history. You decide if you or your tenant pays – the choice is yours.

Pay As You Go. There are no costly subscription fees or commitments. You simply pay per background or credit check you run.

Sensitive Info Stays Anonymous. Applicants verify their online identity with TransUnion directly (not through you) and then you receive their credit and background check reports within minutes. The tenant doesn’t have to give you sensitive information, like their social security number. Sensitive information also is masked when the report is sent to you.

Get All the Facts. Through this program, individual landlords like you can tap into the most comprehensive criminal background databases in the industry. This will help protect your rental property investment from likely “red-flag” renters.

Immediate Access. There is no waiting for approval or documentation neccessary. You will have your credit or background check done instantly.

Create an account with SmartMove by TransUnion today!

Stop! Ask Your Corporate Housing Landlord These 3 Questions

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Stop and ask the right questions of your corporate housing landlord
Are you a soon-to-be corporate housing tenant or renter?  If yes, before you rent, ask your landlord these three important questions:
  1. Is this property legit? Ask a lot of questions to understand if the property is legit. Ask the owner for references to previous tenants, never wire money, require a phone conversation and be smart – if it doesn’t feel quite right, trust your gut. There are a lot of scammers out there so these extra steps will make sure you’re renting a real property.
  2. Will you run a credit check on me? Understand if the landlord is going to run a credit check and/or background check on you and what’s involved in the process (fees, etc.). Really good landlords will always run some sort of check on you – but if you have something a little sketchy in your past, you’ll want to disclose it and explain it to the landlord before they run the check. Landlords don’t like surprises and they may disqualify you fro renting their property if you didn’t properly disclose and explain past infractions.
  3. What should (or shouldn’t) I pack? Understand what amenities they will have available to you and what you should and shouldn’t bring. A “furnished” property can mean a lot of different things to different landlords. You want to make sure your definition of “furnished vacation rental” is the same as yours. [Learn more about what CHBO Complete and how it helps you pack!]

Corporate Housing Rental Documents 101: The Rental Application

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This article is part of a series of articles discussing the various documents you’ll need as a corporate housing landlord.

Lease applications for corporate housing rentals

A rental application is the first step to making sure the tenant is a viable tenant – consider it the qualification step. Before signing any lease agreement with a potential renter, ask them to fill out a rental application.

You can create one on your own, Google search for a template, or simply login to your CHBO account – a sample Rental Application is available to members in the “Forms and Documents” section.

Sample corporate housing rental application

This is a screenshot of the sample rental application available to CHBO members.

A rental application should include all the basic information about your prospective tenant, including their name, address, ss#, driver’s license number, employer, previous landlord, as well as the opportunity for them to disclose any previous arrests and/or convictions.

Landlords should treat that information confidentially and run a credit check and/or background check on each tenant. This step is crucial to protecting your property from unruly tenants who may not have disclosed their credit or rental history in full. You want to make sure the applicant is not only who they say they are, but also that they are able to pay your rental fee on a consistent basis.

Further, many landlords wonder if they should charge applicants an application fee. We recommend you do so – but only enough to cover the costs of your credit and/or background check. You should specifically note the application fee total on the application form, as well as ask them to include a check or their credit card information. (Make sure you can accept credit cards – it will make this process run more quickly and efficiently.)

On the application, you will also want to allow them to authorize you to use their social security number to run a credit and/or background check. You can also ask them to initial if they certify that the application is truthful. A standard lease application will provide the proper language, as well the sample lease application CHBO makes available for its members to use.

Further, make sure your lease application provides a return fax number – so the applicant knows exactly where to send the application once completed.

Remember, a rental application is a crucial first step that mustn’t be skipped. This is your opportunity to weed out any potential difficult tenants and feel confident renting to the ones that rise above the rest.

In our next post, we’ll be talking about rental lease agreements.

RENTER TIP! If you’re a prospective tenant, you’ll want to make sure your credit history is good. Do a check yourself to make sure there aren’t any false or unresolved issues. Also, you’ll want to fully disclose your criminal background and explain yourself upfront. You’ll likely save yourself from being disqualified before such issues become raised red flags.

Do Corporate Housing Landlords Consistently Run Credit and Background Checks on Tenants?

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We’re continuing our blog series to share key findings from the 2011 “By Owner” Corporate Housing Report, an annual survey sponsored by CHBO to better understand the “by owner” rental marketplace. The latest report was released in January 2012 based on 2011 trends.

Credit and background checks are quickly becoming an interesting topic for corporate housing landlords. With more people bearing bad credit because they’ve gone through bankruptcy or foreclosure on a previous property, it’s become more clear that all landlords must be on-guard with the individual who rents their properties.

In today’s environment, credit reports are often used to see the bigger picture about a prospective tenant. In looking at a renter who has poor credit, you need to ask more questions to understand if the potential tenant is likely to be a repetitive credit offender, or if it was just a one-time occurrence.

In 2010, 26% of respondents said “yes,” they always run credit or background checks. A larger amount, 32%, said ”no,” they never run reports.

However, for 2011, we divided this question into two separate questions because there is a significant difference between a credit check and a background check. With that said, we found very little variance between the two topics, which surprised us. We expected credit checks to be higher than background checks; yet, for all statistical variances they appear to be the same.

About a quarter of all survey respondents said they always rent a credit and/or background check, while a third of respondents said they never run a report.

You can see a full breakdown of these stats and more by downloading the full report at http://www.corporatehousingbyowner.com/corporate-housing/2011chboreport