The single most important issue in renting residential properties is doing a thorough background check on the prospective Tenant.  The old addage of "One Bad Apple" could not be more true here.  Without doing adequate screening you open yourself up to numerous perils.  There are a number of screening services avialable online, but not all screening services are equal.  It is important that you use what we call a "Decisioning" model to ascertain the ability and attributes of the prospective Tenant. 

These decisions are based around three basic criterias:

1. Ability of the Tenant to pay the rent, generally the rent should be no more than half their income, the lower the ratio of rent to income, the better chances of there not being any problems should they run into financial problems like losing or changing jobs.
2. Criminal Back Ground Checks; It is important to find out if the tenant has been a convicted Felon, Sexual Predator or has a history of evictions.
3. Credit Worthiness; getting a FICO score, with a review of their credit history shows if the Tenant has been conducting themselves in a acceptable manner.  The better the credit scores, the less chance of defaulting on rental payments.

Smart Tenant Screening empowers the landlord to establish the underwriting criteria for their respective properties.  Certainly the quality and location of the rental unit play a large part in this process.  The more valuable the asset the more carefully screened the tenants should be, as you have a lot to lose in not only rent, but potential damage and other legal grief in getting a bad Tenant out.

 To many people are too trusting, good values thinking that the world is like them.  When you meet people that present themselves well, it is easy to accept them at face value and rent to them without checking their rental history, credit or ciminal background.  All you have to do is pick up a newpaper in any major city and the reality of problems with drugs, sexual predators and people over stepping their financial abilities because they want a nice place to live.  We are not here to pass any judgements on these people, we feel that it is prudent to avoid potential problems and within the Smart Tenant Screening service, make recommendations to rent, rent with conditions (such as higher deposits) or deny an application.