Before you sign a lease and hand over the keys to your rental property, watch this video for essential steps every landlord should follow when screening a tenant. A tenant background check with credit reports, criminal records and an eviction search is only has reliable as the information you obtain from the applicant. It’s far […]
Learn how much time a landlord or tenant must provide to terminate a month-to-month lease (also known as a tenancy-at-will when there is no written rental agreement that has been signed by both parties). Each state along with their respective time frames have been provided in the above-referenced video. However, some states such as California, […]
At some point during your time as a landlord, you may encounter a tenant that is either a nuisance, kind of creepy or maybe you just don’t get along… If you ever decide it would be best to end your landlord-tenant relationship, there are only three lawful options available to you – but all may […]
Conducting business with a handshake is a great approach in theory, but not in practice. Not only is the United States a very litigious country, but the simplest of conflicts can occur due to basic miscommunication. So whether it’s the initial lease agreement, the addition of an aquarium, room color change, maintenance request, new payment […]
Everyone who owns rental property strives for a successful experience, but too often that success is mistakenly defined solely as the bottom line. Making sound financial decisions and conducting comprehensive tenant screenings are undoubtedly very important, but being a great landlord goes well beyond crunching numbers and evaluating reports… While your experience may never be […]
Having the right rental application is a very important first step when screening a tenant. It ensures you not only obtain the necessary information, but the proper authorization to request credit reports and much more. The following is an explanation of each section found in a standard rental application by AmerUSA.com that anyone may use. […]
For purposes of this discussion, we will be focusing on the needs of home-based landlords (not professional companies). The small landlord has been given limited options over the years to obtain tenant credit reports. This is due to the requirements set forth by the major credit bureaus, but now individual landlords have two options to […]
When warranted, every landlord would like to report a negative payment status or a troubling experience with regard to a recent tenant. However, contrary to the claims of many companies online, most cannot. Consumer Credit Reporting: Unless you have been inspected and approved as a commercial subscriber to the major credit bureaus, you cannot report […]