Over 70% of Americans have good to excellent credit scores.
Those are the credit scores you want your prospective tenants to have. After all, they indicate that consumers pay their financial dues on time and, therefore, have the money to do so. In many cases, that applies to their rental payments, too.
However, a credit check, which lets you determine someone's credit score and history, isn't the only tenant background check you should do. This guide explains the basics of rental applicant screening and the other tools you should use to find excellent renters in Tacoma, WA, so read on.
Employment and Income Checks
In Tacoma, WA, the long-term average unemployment rate is 7.24%. While that means most of the city's working-age adults have jobs, you shouldn't assume the same for all your rental applicants. That's why you must always conduct a tenant employment history check.
If you have self-employed applicants, verify their income sources. That includes checking their annual tax returns, bank statements, and profit and loss statements.
Once you've confirmed your prospective tenants' employment and income, determine if it's sufficient. Here, the results of a credit check come into play again. You can use the data it provides, such as the amounts owed, to gauge if a prospective tenant's income is still enough to cover rent after paying their debts.
Criminal Background Checks
You don't want to rent out your Tacoma property to someone with a long history of property crimes, do you? You don't want a tenant with a background of severe violent crimes, either.
So, to protect yourself, your property, and your community, always include a criminal background check in your tenant screening process. However, ensure you remain fair by considering the crime's severity or when it happened. If it's only for a petty crime (e.g., a minor traffic offense many years ago), you may not want to factor it in, as it's irrelevant to tenancy.
Previous Landlord Checks
These checks involve contacting your rental applicants' previous landlords. They're crucial to tenant verification, as they can help you learn about prospective renters' rental behavior and history. For example, previous landlords can tell you if the tenant you're considering has:
- Always paid rent on time and in full
- No history of breaking the lease or any of its terms
- Met all their tenant obligations
- Never been a subject of complaints from neighbors
Rental history checks can also contain information about previous evictions in Tacoma or elsewhere. So, always conduct these checks, as they can help you spot red flags that may suggest a renter has a high eviction risk.
Outsource Your Tenant Background Check Process
A comprehensive tenant background check is invaluable to finding tenants you can trust to pay on time and not put your property or others in harm's way. However, it can be time-consuming, so consider outsourcing the entire process to experts.
PMI South Sound can deliver all your tenant placement needs and more. As a full-service real estate asset management company, we can market your Tacoma properties, fill them with quality tenants, and maintain them to preserve their value. We're also part of PMI, the world's largest property management company with over 20 years of experience.
Connect with us today to learn about the difference we can make!
