7 Steps to Great Applicants
- Application Fees
- Credit Reports and Credit History
- Other screening services
- Megan's Law notice
- Checking RENTAL history
- Verifying income
- Visit applicants current residence
After we've gone through all the rest of the screening process, we often drop-in on the applicant unannounced to see how they take care of their current home. That gives us the last bit of reassurance that we need to make the big decision to go ahead and rent to the applicant or not. Over several years, we have decided not to rent to several people at the point of the final drive by. Either the yard looked terrible, the house was a mess, or cars were parked on the lawn.
When we show up at their door, we typically say something like, Mr. & Mrs. Applicant, I'm real sorry to just drop in on you like this, but the owners of the property you would like to rent have a lot of pride in their home and they would like to know how you take care of your current home. Do you mind if I tell them before I make the final decision to rent to you?
That's a gutsy thing to do and grant it, we've made a few people mad. But they are invariably people we would not have wanted to rent to anyway.