Video Replay and Answers to Questions From Finding and Screening Tenants 101 Webinar
We hope our Finding & Screening Tenants 101: Tips, Tricks & Best Practices webinar was informative and helpful! Common questions we received during the webinar are outlined and answered below.
If you’d like to watch the webinar recording, please click below.
If you have additional questions about applications and tenant screening, please visit https://www.rentals.com/screening.
Marketing Your Vacant Property
1. If I list my vacancy on Rentals.com, will my listing show up on any other sites?
Yes! Your listing will also show up on our sister sites, which include:
2. You touched on taking the best quality photos as possible to include in a listing. Can you share tips on how to do this?
- Use a high-quality camera. High-quality smartphones are fine to use.
- Stick to horizontal photos. Horizontal camera angles will naturally show off more of your space, making it look more expansive.
- Take more photos than you think you'll need from different angles and with different lighting, focusing on various parts of each room.
- Make the home look like someone lives there. Empty rooms tend to also look smaller in pictures, while rooms with furniture look larger.
- Make sure to use natural light in your photos by opening the windows.
- Highlight the property’s outdoor aspects, such as the front entrance and backyard (if there is one).
- Stay out of all pictures. Rooms with a mirror or windows may show your reflection based on where you’re standing.
Applications
1. Say we invite a prospective tenant to apply for our rental and they go through the process of paying for the screening. If we decide not to accept them, will the applicant have access to the credit and background reports that they paid for? Could they take these and apply for another rental property?
Yes, after a renter applies they will be given access to their reports. Applicants will then have the ability to utilize their reports for other properties.
2. If a husband and wife apply to live in a rental, how much is the Rentals.com application fee? Would credit reports for both individuals be run when screened?
Each applicant over the age of 18 will be required to pay a separate screening fee. Both individuals will have their own screening reports run.
Tenant Screening Cost
1. What’s the cost for the landlord? What’s the cost for the prospective tenant?
The applicant pays a $20 or $30 screening fee to apply depending on the state. There is no cost for landlords to screen, but landlords have the option to pay the screening fee directly if they would like.
Credit Checks
1. Does the Rentals.com credit check supply the complete credit report or only the FICO score?
Rentals.com provides a full credit report and credit score from TransUnion. A criminal background check, 50-state eviction report and identity verification are also available.
References
1. How do you verify the accuracy of landlord references?
Rentals.com does not verify landlord references for accuracy. That information is provided by applicants on the rental application.
