Applicant Warning Signs

This week I had some great conversations with many of you.  A couple of issues were brought up that you should all know about.

Issue #1The applicant doesn’t want me to run his credit because he doesn’t want his credit score affected. What should I do?
When you as a landlord check a person’s credit, it is called a soft hit on their credit.  This means it will only stay on their credit report for 2 to 3 months.  Their credit score will not be affected long term when you check their credit.
I have found often that a person who does not want you to check their credit has credit issues that they are hiding from.  You need to establish your own rule that you check everyone’s credit. 
Another thing to consider is if an applicant is trying to dictate how you run your business now, they will continue to cause you issues in the future.

Issue #2
My tenant wants to pay cash.  What should I do?Cash is king, but not in the landlord business.  This is big red flag. Why? People often want to pay cash because they do not have a checking account and they have money gotten from illegal means.  Drug dealers are some of the biggest offenders of this.  Now this does not mean that everyone who wants to pay with cash is doing something illegal nor is a drug dealer.  It is better to be safe that sorry.
Last week I received an email from a landlord who rented to a person who seemed to be a great applicant and wanted to only pay in cash.  The tenant paid the deposit and first month’s rent in cash.  That was all he ever paid.  The landlord is now going through the eviction process.

In summary, screen your applicants and don’t take cash.