A reliable tenant is a steady source of income. When tenants move out, however, it can cost up to $5,000. With stakes that high, it makes sense that landlords are looking for new ways to decrease tenant turnover.
There are a variety of approaches you can take to decrease tenant turnover. Methods range from improving your properties to providing tenants with more amenities.
One of the best approaches starts before your tenants even move in. We’re talking about tenant screening, which can improve the tenant selection process.
The best news? We’re also here to tell you about the best tenant screening services. Read on to learn more about tenant screening, why outsourcing works, and which tenant screening service to choose.
Why Does Tenant Screening Matter?
You might be thinking, “Does tenant screening really matter?” The answer is yes, and once you begin screening your tenants, you’ll never go back. Let’s take a closer look at why tenant screening matters.
Finding Financially Responsible Tenants
One of the biggest components of tenant screening if you live and work in the US is checking a tenant’s credit score and history. This can give landlords a sense of how responsible a potential tenant is with money and how reliably they pay off their bills and debt.
Keep in mind that while it’s great to secure a tenant with a stellar credit score, renters often have lower credit scores than homeowners. In fact, renters are seven times more likely to have no credit score, at all. Because of this, you may want to consider accepting credit scores of 680 and higher or ask tenants who have no credit to secure a cosigner.
Leasing to Tenants You Can Trust
Tenant screening often includes a background check in addition to a credit check. A background check can tell you more about a tenant’s life and history, verifying any information that they’ve provided.
Background checks may cover information including criminal records, employment confirmation, rental and eviction history, and more. By learning more about a tenant, you can better determine whether or not you trust them to live in, take care of, and pay for one of your units.
Why Invest in a Tenant Screening Service?
Sure, you could conduct your own tenant screening process. However, as a landlord, you’ve already got a lot on your plate, and tenant screening isn’t as simple as it might seem. Let’s take a look at why tenant screening services are useful for landlords.
Streamlining the Credit and Background Check Process
When US landlords decide to perform a credit check, they may not realize how complicated the process can become. With multiple credit bureaus producing credit scores, it can be difficult to submit the proper paperwork and receive a timely response. Tenant screening services streamline this process to produce faster results.
Background checks are also tricky to complete, as there are several steps involved. Unlike credit reports, there’s no one place that can provide all of the information that a background check should cover. A tenant screening service will tackle all of these steps, from contacting a potential tenant’s employer to securing information about a criminal record, so that you don’t have to.
Getting Consistent Information
When you start screening tenants on your own, it can come with a learning curve. When you’re juggling additional tasks like handling tenant complaints and collecting rent, it’s easy to lose track of the individual tasks you need to complete to screen your tenants. As a result, you might collect inconsistent information from one potential tenant to another.
When you hire tenant screening services, you’ll get consistent information each time someone applies for one of your units. This can prevent unintentional discrimination and ensure that you know all the facts before you make a decision.
Saving Time and Effort
At the end of the day, owning rental properties is a time-consuming business, especially when you’re interested in increasing tenant retention. This can require a robust marketing plan, prompt communication with existing tenants, and a commitment to improving your properties. When you’re in charge of all of this, taking the time to screen tenants can seem impossible.
With a tenant screening service, it’s possible and easy. Sometimes, outsourcing some of the day-to-day tasks is the best way to ensure that you’re doing your best work.
Where Can You Find the Best Tenant Screening Services?
Now that you understand the importance of tenant screening and why you should hire a service to do it, let’s talk about who to hire. FrontLobby is proud to offer tenant screening services that include:
- affordable credit score checks in as little as five minutes
- current and former addresses
- employment confirmation
- credit history, balances, collections, and bankruptcies
- inquires, aliases, and tenant records
Plus, unlike some tenant screening services, FrontLobby can do more than screen potential tenants. Our full suite of services also includes:
- reporting rent payments to credit bureaus
- recordkeeping
- reporting rental debt
We’re one of few companies that allows you to reward reliable tenants with a boost to their credit score. Offering this service to your tenants will undoubtedly attract more applicants and increase tenant retention.
Let FrontLobby Take Care of Business
If you have a tenant turnover problem, it’s time to find a solution. The best tenant screening services will make it easy to find better tenants for your properties and miss fewer rent payments in the process. FrontLobby offers tenant screening services and more, all of which will make your job easier.
Are you ready to learn more about FrontLobby and how we can help? Join 30,000 landlords who have already signed up by making your own FrontLobby account today. You can customize your services so that you get the exact help that you need.
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