Landlords rely more on rental screening these days than ever – and a legal credit tenant screening service has to be a key component of any property manager’s arsenal. Congress has acted to strongly reign in the ability of banks and creditors (such as landlords) to react to debtors or clients/tenants who refuse to pay or are unable to pay. Given the number of people in foreclosure and or collecting unemployment these days the number of applicants with a checkered past is going to increase dramatically in the next couple of years.
How are today’s creditors supposed to react to the sudden drop in credit-worthiness of essentially the entire middle class? How are landlords and banks supposed to weed out the good clients from the bad? The answer is boils down to getting the facts and carefully evaluating prospective clients and renters with extra scrutiny. You don’t want to be excluding potential good tenants from signing a lease because they happened to fall on hard times but at the same time you have to protect yourself and your business.
Know the FCRA Law Before You Begin Your Investigation
The aforementioned law mentioned above is an extension of the earlier laws adopted under the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA). Now the FCRA still governs the policies and practices in establishing or denying credit to rental clients or customers, but knowing how to apply it has become more important than ever because laws regarding taking action against deadbeats have tightened. It will very quickly become extremely difficult for property managers and other lenders to use old techniques like interest penalties and late fees to punish slow or non-payers. Further it will become more difficult to act to reduce risk of non-payment by adding prohibitive clauses in certain contracts.
How Then to Do Rental Screening When Information Is Incomplete or Suspect?
So you have a commercial property and are desperate for clients – but how do you fill a vacant unit when your potential rental clients are preying on your desperation? What do I mean by this? I mean they prey on your weakness by leaving information off the application – or give inaccurate referral information in hopes that you won’t check the facts thoroughly. In other words they are bluffing you in the hopes your obviously weakened hand will force you to take them in quickly. How do you fight back when you have a weak hand? The answer is you still have to do the rental screening process.
The Rental Screening Process
1. Get the rental application
2. Get the form authorizing a complete credit and background check
3. Verify the information on the form (particularly personal and employer references) – use a cheap basic directory search to verify phone numbers of references given and make sure the information you were given is correct.
4. Call the references and verify information provided by the applicant
5. Rate the applications based on the results of the reference calls
6. Take the top two rated applicants and perform an credit tenant screening credit (read the FCRA law – sample reports are at the bottom of the report)
7. Based on the results of the rental screening process choose the best applicant and bring them in for an interview
Using this disciplined process will help take the emotion out of bringing in and selecting tenants. This will go a long way toward reducing the number of mistakes made in the rental screening process and hopefully improve your real estate ROI.
Posted in Investing, Real Estate.
Tagged with background checks, credit checks, credit tenant screening, good tenants, rental screening.
By webmaster
– November 30, 2009
It’s easy once you know how to find a person by address free using simple public records database searches. The first step is to go to a public records database and do a find a person by address free people search. Once you have your initial free search results you should have the persons address, phone number, age, and possibly even relatives’ names as well. Amazing how much information is available for free, no?
A step by step how to find a person by address free is simple with a name or partial name when using one of the public record search databases. Name record searches are by far and away the easiest and most common forms of searches, and tracking people down by address from there is even easier. In most cases supplying an accurate name and the state where you might expect to find someone is usually more than enough to achieve free and accurate results without spending a dime.
It’s easy to find a person by address using a free public records search. Public records databases have been opened to the public for a few years now however they’re always been poorly organized and difficult to search. A few intrepid small businesses have managed to figure ways around all the red tape to pull all the public records databases into a single indexed records source.
A quick search to find a person by address will reveal a persons name, phone number, and relatives. The notion that there is any real privacy anymore is simply ridiculous in this day and age of public records searches. It is possible to find out just about anything about just about anyone. Nowadays it doesn’t even have an out of pocket expense to find a person by address, or to find a persons phone number or relatives. It’s scary but that is the reality we live in.
On the other hand you might think of it as playing on a level playing field. In the past only wealthy people with the vast resources to afford paid researchers were able to troll through public records to find people. Many of America’s most successful people routinely used their enhanced ability to access public records to continually improve their status and leverage. Today you and I have the same relative access to public records that only the elite had previously.
It may be a little scary to know your information is so widely available on public records, but in reality it has always been so. Now the rest of us have access to the same data sources that have been used to target and market to us. I’m ok with that.
If you have someone you need to find, why not do a free public records detailed search – see how easy it is to learn how to find a person by address free at my site or see how you can do unlimited credit and criminal background checks for as little as $10.00 a year. A free people search takes less than a minute and provides basic information quickly.
Posted in People.
Tagged with find a person, find a person by, find a person by address, find a person by address free, find a person free.
By webmaster
– September 2, 2009
People often chase the highest yield savings account online but neglect to pay attention to other important factors in choosing a good online bank. The sliver of difference in interest rates (particularly at these anemic levels) isn’t worth the additional risk taken on by allying yourself with some of the high yield banks who are overly diversified.
Interest rates at savings banks, online or otherwise are simply ridiculously low. While I do believe it’s important to maintain an online account because the rates are considerably higher than local savings rates, selecting an online bank based on rate alone probably isn’t in your best interest.
Other Factors I Consider:
- What other businesses does the bank and it’s parent engage? – Big banks like Citibank and Chase honestly are a little scary. FDIC insurance or not, these big banks take too big risks with their ancilliary businesses – and as we saw with Lehman Bros and about 70 other banks – business failure of the parent can interrupt availability of personal accounts – insured or not
- Does the bank link up with my personal financial software seamlessly? People using personal software like Quicken or Money like the convenience of downloading transactions and auto-reconciliation.
- Is their online site easy to navigate? An online bank you dread to visit isn’t going to serve your needs at all.
- Does the bank respond quickly to recovering / rising interest rates? Some banks track the Federal Reserve rates quickly. Some don’t
Another problem with chasing the highest yield savings account is that one month your account will be paying the most, the next month someone else will jump over your bank’s rates – and for a fraction or a tenth of a percentage point of yield, it simply isn’t worth it.
Other topics on Savings Accounts and Online Banking:
Savings Accounts Kids Use to Learn Basic Home Finances
Kids Saving Accounts – Topics to Discuss with Your Children about Saving and Earning
Open a Bank Account Online – Things You Need to Open an Account Online
High Yield Saving Account – The Blessings of an Online Savings Account
Savings Account for Kids – How to Use a Savings Account to Teach Your Child about Money
Prior Post: Find Email – A Service of Find-Missing-Peoplesite.com
Posted in People.
Tagged with big banks, high interest rate, highest yield, highest yield savings account, money, online banking, quicken, savings account.
By Martin
– August 18, 2009
One simple definition of trading on margin is the ability to buy substantial quantities of shares of stock which you do not have the cash or collateral to buy outright. It is the concept of leverage – borrowing money from a third party (most often your broker) to buy (or short) stocks, bonds, or foreign currencies which you do not have the money to pay for outright.
Back before options trading began, buying stocks on margin was the only game in town to amplify stock market returns, and played a significant role in the stock market crash of 1929. The crash of the stock market left many people unable to pay for the money they borrowed to invest in the market, causing a series of credit defaults in a domino effect. We’ve seen a similar occurance this past September with the failure of Lehman Brothers. Their default on numerous liability positions caused multiple bank failures around the world and god knows how many margin calls.
I’m not going to yammer on forever about the risks associated with trading on margin because that is covered very nicely elsewhere (such as the linked text above). Leveraged trading of this kind is mostly limited to forex trading accounts and treasuries. I don’t know of anyone specifically who trades in marginable stock securities outside those specific arenas. If you know someone, send them my way, I’d love to talk to them.
Other Posts on the Topic of Trading Leverage:
Binary Option Trades – The Simplest and Shortest Method of Investing
An Option Trading System for Binary Option Traders
Prior Post: Forex Trading for Small Business
Posted in Options.
Tagged with binary options trading, define margin, forex trading, margin trading accounts, options trading, purchasing stock on margin, trading on margin.
By Steve
– July 31, 2009
The find email address service is among the most important features of www.find-missing-peoplesite.com – in fact it is arguably the most important given the prominence of social networking sites. Why? Because using an email address to search social networking sites is the fastest way to link up with your friends – new and old. Without a valid email address to work from, it takes hours of sifting through the millions of accounts under the name “John Smith” to find the person you seek. Most people simply give up, because in all likelihood your friend(s) have signed on to the social networking site under a psuedonym like “spiderman” or some other such moniker.
The point is that we at find-missing-peoplesite.com have recognized a need in the marketplace for people who need to be able to track down friends, relatives, and business contacts via email and as a result added our find email address service. It does cost a few bucks for the annual subscription, but if you have a lot of people to try to track down then the modest fee is well worth the money – as you’ll use it over and over again.
Other Articles and Reviews of the Find Email Address Search Service:
Find Business Email Address – Keeps Kaizen System Kosher
Business Email Address Search – Bypass Vendor Banktupcies
Directory of Email Addresses – Keep Business Contacts Current in Case of Layoffs or Shutdowns
Catch a Wife Cheating when You Find Someones Email Address on Social Networks
Prior Post: Find People by Maiden Name – People Reconnecting Every Day
Posted in People.
Tagged with business email address search, find busines email address, find email, find email address, find email addresses, find someones email address.
By webmaster
– July 28, 2009
The latest and greatest auto forex trading software calmly arbitrages the tiny blips in the market while you sleep. It connects via a web based software platform so you don’t even have to have your PC or Mac turned on to be able to continuously make money in the market. It truly is an amazing piece of work.
The software is available for PC download or can be used on the server (PC or Mac) to trade day or night with any broker equipped to receive trading instructions from Megatrader. These days anyone with about $250 ($150 for software license plus $100 new account deposit) can begin auto forex trading with 200:1 leverage same as the big boys. It defies logic that your hot shot just out of college kid can jump in the market and trade forex with nearly the same leverage as someone with a million dollar bankroll but it’s true. Imagine having $1000 to your name but being able to trade $200k of buying power. That’s just awesome leverage to work with. At those figures even just a 1% gain results in $2000 in earnings – more than your initial investment.
That kind of income producing potential is why many people are ponying up the bucks for the auto forex trading software and flipping the switch and going to sleep. There is a ton of money to be made out there.
For the Latest in Forex Trading Read These Articles:
Forex Option Trading – Fast, Cheap, and Easy
Forex Trading Software for Mac Computers – Auto Forex Trading While You and Your Mac Sleep
Make Money Fast and Easy Online with Forex
Forex Cross Rates: Dollar Faces Pressure
Posted in Options.
Tagged with auto forex trading software, forex trading, forex trading software for mac, trading forex.
By Steve
– July 27, 2009
Once upon a time forex trading was only for billionaires and up but nowadays even average Joes are doing it with a few bucks to invest and a few more dollars for a piece of slick trading software that makes rapid transactions with their brokers to get into the market advantageously and reap profitable trades multiple times per day. Small abberations (when exploited quickly) can add up to $300 dollars per day or more depending on how many times the initial capital can be turned over.
Basically, the more volatility there is in the market, the more often the forex cross rates get mis-aligned, and the more often sharp traders (or their nimble software) can jump in and out of the market to take advantage of these disequilibriums.
The other way people are getting involved in the forex trading arena is via a new entity called binary options. Although not yet as popular as other types of options, they still are extremely lucrative ways to make a high return on investment in a very short period of time.
More on Forex Investing:
The Cheap and Easy Way to Make Money Fast
Download a Forex Ebook
Posted in Options.
Tagged with binary option, currency trading, currency trading for beginners, forex trading, learn to trade forex.
By Steve
– July 17, 2009
Trading strategies for forex are evolving rapidly in the marketplace but one software program is really launching itself into the stratosphere. Investors new to forex are taking money they get in bonus cash from opening a forex account and investing it wisely into automated trading software that is killing the market in terms of trading returns.
I’m not going to go into the details of the Forex Trading Software for Mac, but suffice to say that the software pretty much works on any platform so long as you have access to the web and a brokerage account (like this one) that will hook up to your automated software trading platform.
The bottom line is that automated trading software works faster than the market and responds quickly and profitably to changes in market conditions. Live demonstrations of the software during some of the worst market conditions in history (think of the recent bank collapses) demonstrated positive trading results even in those extremely turbulent times.
Other Articles on Investing / Day Trading
Stock Options Explanation: Basic Trades with Sample Payout Computations
Trading Systems for Forex: Software That Links with Your Broker
Option Tutorial: Why People Make a Killing Option Trading
Posted in Options.
Tagged with forex trading account, forex trading software, forex trading software for mac, stock options explanation, trading strategies for forex.
By Martin
– July 9, 2009
Executives know that when they’re up for a position a background check consent for is par for the course. Screening of executives for top business leadership positions has tightened since the wave of scandals that hit the front pages of the business section last year. Multiple executives of well known corporations were found to have embellished their resumes when applying for positions.
How embarrassing for the executive recruiting firms that recommended those future CEOs hmmm? Equally embarrassing for the internal HR staffs and Boards of Directors who ultimately gave their stamp of approval on these decisions. To be completely truthful though, one survey at a major online job board indicated that more than 80% of respondents admitted at least some glossing up of their resume. It only stands to reason given what’s at stake – particularly when you can be uhhhh about 80% certain that your competition is doing the same thing.
Sad thing is – too many professionals fall for the phony resumes – going for the ’safe’ choice candidate with all the qualifications rather than taking someone likely more skilled and qualified but perhaps missing that ‘one’ thing that the eventual new hire lied about on his application. I think if we as HR professionals were all a little bit more skeptical we’d do a better job of hiring, and certainly be less gullible. We should be getting a background check consent form from each applicant and increase the level of scrutiny regarding applicants’ honesty. I meant think about it – by accepting a person who has lied on their resume, we are forcing that person to live a lie each and every day they work for us. That’s hardly humane, don’t you think? The kind of pressure to perform that creates can only spell trouble for everyone.
I can say this because I am as guilty as anyone else – as my firm just caught (after the hire) a person claiming to have been a high level technologist at a million dollar business when in fact the company he ‘worked for’ was run out of his home and did occasional site work. Needless to say he resigned.
We don’t have to go through this however because once we have a background check consent form in hand we have both the freedom and obligation to make good on that promise to investigate a persons claims on their resume. That means checking work history, credit history (in the case of executive screening) and criminal history. All is fair game when doing executive screening… perhaps a little less is needed for lower level applicant screening. Given that even executive background checks are pretty inexpensive… it’s pretty sad it hasn’t been a matter of routine.
Read more about how executive and employee background screening is done:
Executive Background Checks – Work History, Education, and Credit Risk
Pre Employment Criminal Background Check Companies – How to Use The Various Types of Search Agencies
Posted in Background and Credit Checks.
Tagged with backgrounc check consent form, background check companies, executive background checks, pre employment criminal background check screening.
By Martin
– June 28, 2009
I was feeling tired all the time – I just had no get up and go. Life after 30 was passing me by, and before I knew it I was nearing the age of 40, and the previous decade had been virtually devoid of progress or joy… certainly not like the prior decade. What I didn’t know even 8 months ago was that I had been the victim of an insidious illness that steals the joy out of life a tiny little bit at a time. I’m not talking about depression here… although looking back at my state one can easily say it was pretty depressing. No, what I’m talking about here is an illness called Chronic Fatigue Syndrome.
We Don’t Know All The Specifics About Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
While we don’t know all the causes of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome we definitely know its impact. Lethargy, lack of energy, wake up tired… these are all the sorts of statements a sufferer of CFS might make about their condition. Joint pain, muscle exhaustion, poor memory and concentration, and low grade fever are also common. As I said, I was feeling tired all the time and really didn’t much think about doing anything about it because it seemed there was little to gain. How wrong I was.
Surgery And Medication Have Been Part of My Chronic Fatigue Remedy and Treatment
As part of my treatment program my doctors decided it would be best if my tonsils and adenoids were removed. The recovery from surgery was nothing short of excruciating, but since surgery I’ve found my body isn’t constantly battling sinus infection (a good thing) and my energy levels have picked up I’d estimate at least 15% (a VERY good thing). I am definitely doing more, and more importantly I am WANTING to do more. There is so much difference between wanting to do something and having to do stuff. I want to do so much more than even just a few months ago. I may be closing in on 40, but my energy level is much closer to the way it was when I was 30. I was feeling tired all the time just a few short months ago. Now it’s full speed ahead!
Read More about My Battle With Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
I Was Always So Tired and Didn’t Know How to Snap Out of It
Don’t Wake Up Tired Without A Fight – My Battle to Beat CFS
So Lack of Energy Was Limiting My Drive – I Fought Back and Won
I Didn’t Want to Be Always Tired Anymore
Feeling Tired Upon Waking Was Sad But Business As Usual
Posted in Health.
Tagged with always so tired, always tired, chronic fatigue syndrome, feeling tired upon waking, lack of energy, waking up tired.
By Jane
– June 24, 2009
