Are Criminal Background Checks Important When Screening Tenants

Are Criminal Background Checks Important When Screening Tenants?

I am an investor myself and represent a lot of investors through the course of my business.  I help investors find properties to renovate and resell and renovate and hold.  Some of my investors self manage their rental properties and some use my services to locate tenants. 

I get asked whether a criminal background check is really that important, a lot. 

When I evaluate tenants I do a credit check, criminal background check and an eviction screening.   I had a really hard time finding a tenant for my last rental listing.  A lot of people who were interested decided to not apply because I insisted on doing a background check. 

What am I looking for?

Does the tenant pay their bills?  Do they pay their rent?  Do they live by the law?

I’m not looking for perfect credit, after all if they had an 800 or better credit score I’d more than likely encourage them to buy a home rather than rent.   And, a lot of people fall on hard times, I have some great people who have suffered with bankruptcies, short sales and foreclosures and are well on the road to recovery.   If there credit isn’t that great but they have never been late on their rent, they might still be a good risk. 

The last two rentals I listed, both successful applicants had criminal records for misdemeanor possession of marijuana.  In both cases the charges were over ten years old and they had not had any other charges since then, not even a traffic ticket.  In light of recent changes in legislation with regard to marijuana the small amounts in question might no longer pose an issue. 

Evictions are another area I look at.  I don’t always call the landlord for the previous landlord, however, I do ask for the name and phone number for the last 3 landlords and call those.  If the current landlord really wants to get rid of the tenant they might give a glowing reference, where as the one previous to that has nothing to gain. 

 

When evaluating the tenant you do have to use common sense and look at their lives like a jigsaw puzzle.  No one thing can be looked at without looking at the whole picture and people do change over time.  Things we did as teenagers aren’t always cool when we grow up.  My oldest son said something to me the other day about being “Grown Up” now and what he did at 18 isn’t cool anymore now that he’s almost 30.  

If you are thinking of buying or selling an home in  Maryland give me a call at 410-292-0100 or start your search here and we'll talk about the market conditions and what your home could possibly be worth in today's market place if you are thinking of selling. If you are considering buying a home, there is no better time than now to buy. The tax savings and wealth building alone is worth the plunge into todays market.  Century 21 New Millennium is part of the largest nationwide relocation company and can assist with your move here in Maryland or anywhere in the United States or abroad.  Ask me how.

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June Piper-Brandon ~ Associate Broker, CDPE, CIAS, ePro 

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