No matter where your property is, evictions require a lot of time and effort, and it is a process you don’t want to get involved in. Turning over a property and getting it back into shape for new tenants can cost you a lot of rent, cleaning fees, maintenance, and repair costs, as well as valuable time.

However, you can increase your chances of choosing the right tenants who are reliable by following some simple yet organized steps. These steps will allow you to properly vet your tenants and all the requirements, like their credit score, income sources, and background reports. While checking these may sound like a very tedious process, trust us, as these can save you from a lot of monetary and mental troubles in the long run. This article outlines a few major steps you must follow the next time you are doing online tenant screening in Jacksonville.

Establish Minimum Tenant Criteria for Screen Tenants

The first thing every best tenant screening service will advise you to do is establish tenant criteria. Do you need a specific income? No smoking? No stags? Pet-friendly? What’s the required credit score? Whatever the requirements, lay it all out. This not only saves you time but also prevents you from screening unqualified tenants and awkward conversations.

However, don’t set the bar too low or too high because a low bar means you might face some problems in the long run, and having a high bar means difficulty finding tenants and losing out on rentals. Research and see what’s realistic in your area and adjust the requirements as necessary.

Get A Rental Application

Once you have gathered some interested candidates, request that they fill out a rental application. Your application form should have all the important questions so you can evaluate the candidate and decide if they are a suitable tenant for your property or not. Let us give you some examples of information that you must ask for in your rental application.

• Their current employment details and employer information
• Their employment history
• Their total income
• Their rental history
• References of previous landlords
• Personal references
• Debt payments
• Family details
• Their moving-in plan and dates
• Do they have pets?
• Will they have roommates?
• Do they smoke?

Review the Application and Run A Background Check

After receiving the applications, review them thoroughly and check all criteria. Filter out the options and choose all the ones that fulfill all your criteria. After doing this, it is time to run a background check on all the selected candidates. You can also get help from a trusted tenant screening agency in Jacksonville, FL, to do a background check on your selected candidates. This should include evaluating their credit history and score, criminal records, employment history, eviction history, and other details.

Pay special attention to their credit score, which is basically the best indicator of how responsible a tenant is with their finances. A potential candidate with a negative credit score means that they have had too many late bills and most probably won’t pay their rent on time. Another thing to check here is to see if the information a tenant has provided matches the information in their background check, particularly the details about their employment, family, and criminal record.

Contact Their Employer and References

After doing the background check and filtering out your options, the last step is to verify the tenant. When conducting online tenant screening in Jacksonville, it is always advisable to contact potential tenants’ employers and previous landlords to get to know them better. They can shed some light on their character and lifestyle.

Meet with The Tenant and Decide

You have almost selected the perfect tenant for your rental property. All you have to do is meet with the potential tenant directly and see their behavior in real-time. Pay attention to factors like their punctuality in coming to meet you, their vibe and attitude towards you, and if the information they provide while talking to you matches that of the application and background check. If all goes well, you have found your start tenants.

You can hand them your lease agreement, request a security deposit, and get them started with the move-in plan. Also, one thing we want to mention here is how to reject the other applicants. You cannot simply be blunt and say that you have chosen other tenants over them because they are just better overall.

So, an easy way to do this is to pick one or two specific reasons, such as their credit score or total income, and explain to them that this is the reason you had to choose another tenant over them.

Bottom Line

Tenant screening for rental is a crucial yet tiring process. Implementing a standard tenant screening process will help you save a lot of time, be more thorough and surer about your decision, and also make sure that every tenant is treated fairly. By following the steps mentioned above, you can find the tenant that matches your criteria, won’t force you to chase them down for rentals, and doesn’t get you involved in eviction cases. One more thing that can help you in the entire process is connecting with a tenant screening agency in Jacksonville, FL.

Look for a reliable property management company like Ofir Engineering. We can help you find suitable tenants, screen them, and then take care of your property. We can also help you in renovating and repairing your rental properties. Contact us today, and let us help you find people who will care about your property and pay rent on time.