Tenant screening company (apartment, rent, credit)

[jad2k]

Does anyone have recommendations for a good tenant screening service? The board of the building has their own application and screening process, including credit/background checks, references, etc, but I wanted to do my own to “pre approve” the potential tenants. That way I can quickly determine how solid they are as potential tenants before passing them on to the whole long board interview and approval process.

A quick google search turned up a few options but I wanted to see if anyone has used a service that they recommend.

[NJ Brazen_3133]

Onsite is very popular with brokers.

[Cida]

The best thing to do is sit down in and talk to the person for 20 minutes. That will give you entirely new information instead of duplicating what your building will do.

[jad2k]

Originally Posted by Cida

The best thing to do is sit down in and talk to the person for 20 minutes. That will give you entirely new information instead of duplicating what your building will do.

I don’t live in the complex of the apartment I rent so getting to know the person is less important than knowing if they are financially trustworthy. It may sound silly but I care if they will pay on time and have a history of doing so with their other bills, and that they don’t have a history of issues with previous landlords. I don’t care if they play their music too loud or other things that the people who will be living next door to them care about. It’s up to the board to determine if they would make “good neighbors” to live next door to. I’ve also had a few conversations with one potential person so I do know a few things about him. Also, it’s a coop, the screening process that the board does has several forms, upfront fees (in the hundreds of dollars) and takes time (Board must meet to discuss the application and interview tenants).

Given all this, it would save me a lot of time, and money in the long run if I do a quick pre screening on my own first. Especially given I’m considering more than one potential tenant. I can more easily promote one over the other given what a screening returns.

[Cida]

Originally Posted by jad2k

I don’t live in the complex of the apartment I rent so getting to know the person is less important than knowing if they are financially trustworthy. It may sound silly but I care if they will pay on time and have a history of doing so with their other bills, and that they don’t have a history of issues with previous landlords. I don’t care if they play their music too loud or other things that the people who will be living next door to them care about. It’s up to the board to determine if they would make “good neighbors” to live next door to. I’ve also had a few conversations with one potential person so I do know a few things about him. Also, it’s a coop, the screening process that the board does has several forms, upfront fees (in the hundreds of dollars) and takes time (Board must meet to discuss the application and interview tenants).

Given all this, it would save me a lot of time, and money in the long run if I do a quick pre screening on my own first. Especially given I’m considering more than one potential tenant. I can more easily promote one over the other given what a screening returns.

It has nothing to do with your living there. You can still meet them for coffee, using an excuse that you want to tell them about the apartment.

However, that's incredibly irresponsible of you not to care about whether they're distasteful to your neighbors, and dumb to rely on the Board. And you'll find that it backfires on you if the Board rejects your choice because you didn't do a good job vetting him, and it'll backfire even more if you don't discover it's a bad tenant until too late.

[jad2k]

Originally Posted by Cida

It has nothing to do with your living there. You can still meet them for coffee, using an excuse that you want to tell them about the apartment.

However, that's incredibly irresponsible of you not to care about whether they're distasteful to your neighbors, and dumb to rely on the Board. And you'll find that it backfires on you if the Board rejects your choice because you didn't do a good job vetting him, and it'll backfire even more if you don't discover it's a bad tenant until too late.

I’ve already met and had numerous exchanges with the potential tenant. What I’m asking for is recommendations for a screening service- a simple question- so that the board doesn’t reject the person. That’s the whole reason I posted the question. So that I vet them enough before passing them along for the board review