I am looking to buy properties in Ohio to start renting, but don’t know how to get credit reports on people or to find out if they have stiffed other landlords. Also, what is a good credit report threshold to use for renting? Should I go by a minimum score (say 600) or go by percentage of rent to income (say rent can’t be more than 25% of their monthly income or something to that effect)?
4 responses so far ↓
1 Trapz
Go through a legimate company, p.e: real estate agents.
2 Pobept
an eviction will not be reflected on a credit report!
only late or non-payments will be listed
Not all late or non payments will be there, if they are not properly reported they will not be on a credit report
3 Lori A
There is probably a local landlord’s association you can join that will offer access to the ability to pull credit reports. I know that here in Central Texas, they also have a bureau that lists evictions and lease skips. (evictions are public record and should show up on a court record and credit report but a lease skip might not).
There are also companies you can pay to do the background checks. It is fair and common for you to pass the cost of that check onto the prospective clients.
Income verification is pretty important. And yes, your belief that rent shouldn’t exceed a percentage of their net take home pay (usually about a third of take home or a quarter of gross) is a good idea. You can ask to see bank statements and/or pay stubs. Self-employed applicants can show tax returns or bank statements.
One other trick I used, that I got from one of my landlords when I was a tenant. He asked for permission to come see where I was currently living (we had dogs). We said “sure.” I didn’t expect him to pop in by surprise and was embarrased and worried because there were dishes in the sink, but…..
He said all he was looking for were issues that would upset a landlord and that routine mess was not his problem. He looked to see the house was in good shape and not being abused, and that the dogs had not destroyed the backyard.
I thought this was an awesome deal and used it on my own properties.
Some people can appear really nice and clean but are brutal on their residences and some problems are very expensive to fix.
Check out their current home and that will be an eye opener.
Someone with really bad credit may be a bigger risk but keep in mind that if someone has a family, it is possible that the ONLY bill getting paid is the rent. You can check with their current landlord in 2 ways -
1. Ask to see the cancelled checks for the past 6 months.
2. Look up the property owner (all public records accessible for free) and contact them to see how the rent was paid.
It is easy for a tenant to have a friend pretend to be a landlord so one of the above is more reliable.
And a tenant who is having a rough time, but passes the “paid rent regularly” and “isn’t living like a pig” tests may be forever grateful to a landlord that cut them a break if their credit otherwise sucks. That person may well be a good long term tenant.
4 thomas p
Let a realtor rent out your apartments and he will have the nessesary checks done. The fee is paid by the tenant anyway.
You can also go to .com