I need HELP with background checks on people.......

[Dirtcrasher]

I've searched hours; There simply has to be a website I can plug in a name and SS# and get a criminal record, eviction records and basic information. Every website wants about 40$ to do this one time, I'd like to buy a yearly subscription where I can check on 30 people a month as perspective tenants.

The free online searches seem very unreliable.

My local Sheriff wants 34$ a search, that could be hundreds for just one tenant. I have a lot of units, tossed out 10 drugees and need to rebuild this business properly.

If any of you are aware of a good website or have family with income property, please, please let me know.

This all got dropped on me 8 weeks ago and I just put 4K into an apartment and I want a good tenant in there. I have already learned how lying,deceitful and conniving they can be. Seems like the most polite ones are the worst, but I NEED HELP!

Thank you.......

[Dammit!]

Your county might have a website to check criminal records. Mine does.

As for everything else though, you're gonna have to pay for it. $30 is about average but a rental company I used to work for used to be able to do it for ten bucks a pop. Can't remember who we did that through but I'll try to find out.

[Dammit!]

http://www.merchantsinfo.com/solutions/tenant_screening/Default.aspx

That's who we used. The company I worked for had an account and did probably 200 of them per day so that might have brought the cost down.

[Dirtcrasher]

Thanks Doug and anyone that contributes. Dad rented to anyone with 100$ and they could have a needle hanging out of their arm and he wouldn't see it......

He was just past his prime, 35 years ago people were better people. Lets face it, life is tough and some people try harder while others lie, cheat and steal.

I tossed out all the losers, some left on there own, some cost 2000$ to get rid of. It is not profitable at this point for me but with good people I can turn it around.


I work 24-7 now either at the houses, on the phone or paying the bills. I haven't started a trike in 9 weeks; Cannot get hurt at this critical point......

Thanks again!!

[bkm]

Missouri has a system called Casenet. It will let you type in a name and see if they have ever been sued, arrested, went bad on a credit card, speeding ticket, ect, and its all free. I don't know if other states have something like this or not.

[leviblue]

I used to use my uncle as he was the chief of my township. Once he retired I started asking my buddy who's a NJ State Trooper. He dosen't mind running their names or even vin#'s. now I have used some sites and on one guy I got 2 differ read outs on 2 seperate sites. But I still rented to him when his employment checked out. I only check out renters and not employees, only work history and it's hard to lie about that in my biz.
funny thing is there's a ad at the bottom of the page for free background checks

[Dirtcrasher]

I have a good bud who is a State cop, but I can't bother him 200 times a year....... It's asking too much.

I can't see the ads, I run a blocking program so I can just enjoy 3WW :D

[jeffatc250r]

Just rent to middle aged women, most live life quieter than a mousefart and pay their bills. Besides maybe you can invite em to your place to pet your cat shens

[atc007]

Dc,I feel for ya man. You're working your trailprotrailprotrailprotrailprotrailpro off trying to get this working,,and you WILL. I know you will. Wish I could help ya somehow. I CANNOT imagine some of the trash you have already dealt with... I just couldn't do it. The world would be less some garbage,,,and I'd be in jail,...... As for your ??,I have no clue,,other than the usual... pound down those doors till someone listens and gives you an answer your looking for. What BKM said about the State having something,,they almost have too?? I would hope. My niece is a State Trooper and Dad in laws retired Trooper and Federal Marshall. let me know if they could help? I will ask them. Jeff,,,,I'm SURE he wishes it was THAT easy and enjoyable... : )

[thestud25]

Before I purchased a house we had to pay a background check fee just to apply with the rental.company. If the people are serious, and not worthless deadbeats they will pay for their own background check when they apply.

[tri again]

The nicest people will steal your stuff and come back and HELP YOU look for it.

Just like ts25 said, most people worth their salt will have their own documentation.

Finding a rental is like looking for a job. They should show up with a dmv driving record printout, background check etc or at least what I do in the ads is something like:
no pets, first, last, deposit, background check required, application fee and anything else legal I can think of to weed out the riffraff 'cause I'm tellin' ya, they'll steal anything and everything and it , well you know, cost you thousands to get rid of.

That being said, the courthouse here has free background checks but ya gotta go there and look stuff up yourself and it's only county wide.

We found our last evictee (3 grand) had beaten the crap out of his 80 year old father and we carried that into the court THE morning of the eviction. (whew!)

I'll ask the gf how she gets statewide info.
or see if some property management company is interested in working with you and let them run their sales shpiel long enough for you to figure out how they do it.
Better yet, it may be seriously cost effective for you to let them be the pricks.
I'd rather raise poisonous snakes than deal with renters.

I'm being sued for 495,ooo$ because a renter let a drunk friend run a lawnmower and for some reason she stuck her hand into the grass chute and zingged off the tip of her finger.

Depositions for that case are next week.
f 'em all, ZERO tolerance and yes, there is a good reason they're sleeping in their cars.

oh, yeah, add credit check to the ad.

Good luck my friend. You have ALL my sympathy.
These idiots can spill crap, slip on it and own your building and then YOU get to rent a place with no garage...no kidding. It's that serious and these people are PROfessional scammers.
They know more than the lawyers do.
Not kickin' you when yer down, it's just what I've personally seen.

[Billy Golightly]

https://www.screeningworks.com/index.jsp

[Dammit!]

Before I purchased a house we had to pay a background check fee just to apply with the rental.company. If the people are serious, and not worthless deadbeats they will pay for their own background check when they apply.


I should have mentioned, we always made the potential renter pay for it. That's why apartment complexes etc charge about $35-40 per adult for application fees. Just remember to have them sign something that states the fee is not refundable and have them fill out an app that asks specifically about the things you would turn them down for so, if they lie, they can't complain. We used to have to deal with sex offenders all the time and our paperwork specifically asks about it. They always say no, give us the money to run the app and then get pissed and want a refund when we tell them we don't work with sex offenders after WE found out about it. Don't want to lose your app money? Don't lie! Now pound sound you freakin perv! :lol:

In some rare cases, people with felonies on their criminal records can be your best tenants believe it or not. Depends on what it was for, how long ago, how long they've been working, etc. They know it's a PAIN finding a nice place with a felony and the ones that just slipped up once will work very hard not to screw up and get evicted. After a while you learn to recognize those people and can tell the good ones from the bad ones pretty easy.

[Dirtcrasher]

Ya know, thats not a bad thought. I could say "it's 35$ for a background check if you like the place, otherwise I'll move on to the next applicant"

I'm sure that will scare many of them away, but that means there broke anyhow. I'd offer to refund it if I rented to them.......

I have to check out that link Doug, thank you all!! And thanks Dr.Joe for the private message!

[fabiodriven]

I could say "it's 35$ for a background check if you like the place, otherwise I'll move on to the next applicant"

I'm sure that will scare many of them away, but that means there broke anyhow. I'd offer to refund it if I rented to them.......



That sounds like a really good idea.

[Dammit!]

Put the $35 towards their move in if they rent.

The app is really important. Give them a chance to come clean about their bg before taking their money. It gives you some ammo when they complain about being turned down. When they know they lied and got caught they tend to just stfu and go away. :lol:

Make sure they are signing something that states that app fee is not refundable. Might be some stuff on legal zoom you can use.

[tri again]

x2 with dammitt
I had a white collar felon (found out after he rented) but his parole officer could walk in his door 24 hrs a day so you bet they kept their noses clean.

Yeah, tell the renters to bring their own credit report, dmv report etc etc or any and everything you can imagine to protect yourself.
a million $ policy is pretty cheap and umbrella policy covers stuff the others don't
butcha gotta have it all.
See what prop mgmt company wants to take the heat.
You may be pleasantly surprised and eliminate all that headache and liability
and you can go back to what you like....fixin' stuff.

[leviblue]

a friend and i were talking about converting a building we own into storage units. seems like a safe gig till i read thishttp://i916.photobucket.com/albums/ad7/leviblue/hookerad.jpg