Tenant Verification from Advantage Tenant Takes the Guesswork out of Property Management

In the world of property management, the tenants you choose can make all the difference in the world. Much like screening job candidates for employment purposes, tenant screening and tenant verification services are invaluable tools for property managers who want to guarantee they choose the best tenants from their list of applicants.

At Advantage Tenant, we take the guess work out of property management. We will provide a comprehensive tenant verification reports instantly online. Our reports offer verified employment information such as dates of employment, specific job titles, work ethic and job performance, the employee's reason for leaving the company, and personalized comments from their past employers. Along with employment verification, you can find out if your prospective tenants have ever been evicted or arrested. Our tenant verification reports will give you an in-depth look into the kind of person your prospective tenant is.

This information can give you an inside look into your potential tenant’s responsibility and reliability. As a property manager, the reliability and responsibility of your tenants is very important. It can decide whether or not their rent is paid on time and the condition they will leave the rental property in. You can also get some insight into how long they will uphold their lease, judging by their responsibility in other areas of their life.

Tenant verification is a cost efficient way of saving you time and money. By pre-screening your tenants, not only will you weed out bad tenants, but you will help ensure that at the beginning of every month, your rent payments will be made on time, simply because all of your tenants have been proven responsible prior to signing their lease. It is also likely that your property will be more easily maintained and require fewer repairs due to the quality of your tenants.

Our verification process is fast and guaranteed. Within seconds, you will receive your report, and the results will take care of any legwork you normally do during the application process. Simply enter the prospective tenant's information, request a report, and your results will appear onscreen. Save you time, money, and a lot of hassle; tenant verification will be the best decision you ever made.

Don't Pass Up Tenant Screening

If you are a property owner, or a property management company representing an owner, one of the biggest mistakes you can make is renting to a stranger without utilizing a proper tenant screening services to find out more about them. Without a high-quality tenant screening, it is hard to tell whether or not they would make for a reliable tenant. Tenant screening can reveal a number of helpful hints to help you make an educated decision on renting property to a potential tenant. Services such as address history reports revealing other places they may have rented in the past (that can alert you to bad habits or missed payments) to digging up troublesome criminal histories, the type of background information available in a screening can give you the "heads up" you need.

Years ago, landlords and property owners never bothered to concern themselves with any type of tenant screening. Back then, if you could legibly sign your name and pay the first and last months of rent, you could get the keys to the apartment, condo or home with no questions asked. However, in today's modern world, tenant screening on behalf of the property owners and landlords is the first thing put on the tenant’s plate. Every property owner should be cognizant of the importance of tenant screening for every person who comes through the door looking for a rental.

When you have the opportunity to run a credit report, prior employment verification, or can check previous rental information, you will know the crucial information before it's too late and can make the proper rental decisions on your own. The bottom line is that you need fast and accurate information on who your new tenant really is and their background. When you are choosing the tenant screening company who will be assisting you, be sure to consider Advantage Tenant. Email us or give us a call today at 855-244-2400 to learn more!

Reliable Tenant Verification Services

Anyone who is a property owner or manager knows that the single most important way to protect their investment is to do background checks. The question, however, is what method is used to verify a potential renter’s history. It can be hard to perform a decent background check, especially if the person in question has moved a lot and worked at many different places. Unfortunately, some less-than-honest people will create imaginary, glowing backgrounds for themselves. They may go so far as to have friends or relatives lie for them, as well. This is where the importance of a tenant verification service comes in. These services provide thorough and correct information which will undoubtedly pay for itself in a short time.

Hiring a tenant verification service like Advantage Tenant will bring the prospective renter's true history to light, with more details than most proprietor's expect. This type of professional service is adept at getting accurate background history quickly. One to three days is the usual time required to collect and send the information, freeing up valuable time for the owner or manager. A good tenant verification service employs multiple sources that are industry specific, which may be unavailable to a single inquirer. Additionally, the databases that an owner or manager are able to access will charge exorbitant fees.

As a property owner or manager, getting correct information regarding a person's employment history, standing with the major credit reporting bureaus, potential criminal history, and even their identity, is critical to making a good decision. By searching state and national databases, existing positive and negative results turn up, ultimately showing the applicant’s true character. When you take advantage of the top-notch tenant verification services offered by Advantage Tenant, you can rest assured that the new renter will most likely pay their bills on time and be forthright in their dealings, provided their history checks out.

Too many proprietors rely on their own limited skills to search for someone's inclusive history. Unfortunately, their lack of knowledge can result in large amounts of lost income. Hiring a tenant verification service saves time, money, and stress. There are many honest, hard-working people who want to apply to be your tenant – the key is finding them and differentiating from those who might not be so honest or reliable. Fortunately, with the help of Advantage Tenant, finding the quality tenants is much easier.

Tenant Screening Information 101

As the marketing and sales director at AdvantageTenant.com, every day I receive calls from anxious investors looking to get into property management or renting an investment property and they have no idea how to properly screen tenants. 

For many, a tenant credit check is the magic bullet to finding the right tenant and that is as far as their tenant screening goes. However, tenant screening is more than just checking tenant credit, and a good tenant is not just a good tenant credit score (which, by the way, is over a 620).

Many tenant screening providers offer tenant screening services to varying degrees. It is important that you find a provider that provides you with as many tenant screening services as possible. It is also crucial that these services are reasonably priced and that the screening provider has the ability to screen tenants online instantly.

A proper tenant screening should involve a:

·         Tenant Credit Check with a FICO score (from one of the three major credit bureaus)

·         Eviction Report

·         Criminal Background Check

·         Social Security Verification (also an address verification)

·         National Sexual Offender Database Search

Not only do these reports, searches, and verifications provide a clearer picture of the risk in entering a lease agreement, but they also help protect your tenants in high density rentals.

Advantage Tenant offers comprehensive tenant screening packages for $25 with simple sign-up processes, easy compliance, online access and no annual fees. Contact us today!

How to Get Detailed Credit Reports on Tenant: Check Tenant Credit

When tenant screening, many landlords, property managers, and realtors want to view an applicant's detailed credit report. However, in order to get detailed credit reports on tenants, there are a number of compliance standards which must be meet. These standards do not vary by tenant screening providers – rather, it is a requirement of the three credit bureaus as well as the Federal Fair Credit Reporting Act.

In order to view an individual's detailed tenant credit report, one must first:

·       Provide a permissible purpose. There must be a valid business reason why one would need to view credit supported by acceptable documentation. For example, the permissible purpose could be "tenant screening" with proof of ownership of the rental property or a copy of a professional license (realtor/broker) to support the need to perform tenant credit checks. The permissible purpose is part of the credit report provider's application.

·       Provide a copy of the rental application used in your rentals. The application must have a signature release stating that the applicant gives permission to perform a tenant credit check.

·       Submit to an onsite office inspection. This inspection will examine the office environment where credit reports are being requested and viewed to determine that the office is in compliance in providing consumer credit safeguards. The inspection is performed by a licensed representative approved by the bureaus and will include documentation that the requestor has a password protected computer, locking filing cabinet, paper shredder, separate locking entrance, and is not a shared space or in a common area. The inspection is performed once in commercial office locations or annually for home offices. These inspections are not cheap, with prices ranging from $75 to $125.

·       Provide proof of phone verification. Often, this can be satisfied with a copy of a yellow page listing or phone bill. In the age of disposable cell phones and virtual toll free numbers, in order to prevent fraud the bureaus want to be sure that the phone number submitted on the service agreement belongs to the principal or business requesting credit screening services.

Another important fact to take note is that detailed credit reports are for the registered requestor's eyes only. These detailed reports are not to be distributed, not to the applicant nor the landlord client. If an applicant is denied tenancy based on their credit profile, a copy of the report will be provided to them from the tenant screening service provider who provided the tenant credit check.

If you meet these standards, it is fairly simple for you to check tenant credit. In fact, you can get a $10 single bureau detailed credit report from Advantage Tenant. However, even if you work out of a bedroom office, all is not lost. A tenant credit score and a summary of the applicant's credit history can be obtained with tenant credit score cards available from AdvantageTenant.com.

Finding the Best Tenant Screening Provider

What makes a tenant screening service provider the best tenant screening provider? It depends on what the best online tenant screening provider means to you.  We work with over 32,000 property managers, realtors, real estate brokers. and private landlords looking to weed out the bad eggs with tenant screening services. Here is what they have said is important to them when screening tenants online:

• Tenant Screening Costs - The price of the tenant screening service should be reasonable enough so that it can easily be covered by a standard application fee. AdvantageTenant.com offers a comprehensive screening package that covers credit, eviction reports, criminal background checks and Social Security number verification all for $25.

• Instant Tenant Reports - Potential renters move quickly, as should your decision process. When searching for tenant screening providers, be sure that their tenant report results are instant. Many providers turnaround reports in a few hours or a couple days – that is far too long to wait. The best online tenant screening providers should be able to provide you with instant results as their standard service offering. Tenant Reports.com offers instant report results 24/7/365.

• Accurate Tenant Screening Results - Low cost tenant screening with instant tenant reports should not compromise accuracy.  Be sure that your online tenant screening provider pulls from the freshest data available and can access multiple credit bureaus to best fit your tenant screening needs.

• Tenant Screening Customer Service - Report results can at times be confusing, especially to new landlords. The best online tenant screening providers should offer live phone support with individuals who are professionals and experts in tenant screening services. Avoid online tenant screening providers who only allow for email or "online chat" for support. AdvantageTenant.com offers free phone support to help you make the right decision when filling your next rental.

We hope you find a great tenant for your vacancy and an equally great online tenant screening service provider!

Tenant Screening Providers- Tenant Screening the Right Way

Tenant screening online has its challenges. If you are looking for a reputable tenant screening provider, first you will want to determine what is required to run a thorough tenant screen.

When screening tenants for your property or your client's rental property, be sure to check:

• Credit Worthiness - What is the applicant's credit score from the bureau and what type of debt do they carry?

• Criminal Background information - Is this applicant a liability or a danger to me, my tenants and my neighbors?

• Eviction History - Many tenants who were once evicted often are repeat offenders. Be sure to check their eviction history and call their past landlord to see what kind of tenant they are.

• Social Security Verification - We live in an age of identity theft and fraud. Be sure to know if the person you are running a tenant screening report on is the person actually interviewing for the property.

Tenant screening resources are designed to help weed out potential problem tenants, but by no means is it a fail-safe. Carefully interview each applicant. Ask questions like: Why are they moving? How long do they think they would like to lease the property? Ask if there is anything they feel like may need to be explained before running a background check. A thorough interview is critical to raise a red flag before entering a legal contract that may cost you in the long run.

To learn more about tenant screening and tenant screening products, visit www.AdvantageTenant.com.