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 #1
The 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.
Welcome back!
August 17th, 2008 at 9:29 am
Your blog is interesting!
Keep up the good work!
September 12th, 2008 at 1:27 pm
I recently had a conversation with a property owner that agreed not to do a credit check. The potential tenant offered three months’ rent.
Sure enough, that’s all they EVER paid.
It took the owner six months to get them out.
September 26th, 2008 at 9:59 pm
I’ve had this issue before and I wish I’d known about this site before I’d proceeded with these tenants. I have a property in Dayton Ohio and the tenants wanted to pay in cash only. Their reasoning was that they were paid in cash and tips from their respective jobs as waitress (her) and pizza delivery driver (him).
They paid their deposit and first week’s rent in lots and lots of small bills. For the first three months, the rent was on time every time (always in small bills!)
Then the police called me and said they’d uncovered an amphetamine lab in the house. They were dealers and they were arrested, so I had no issues about getting them out of the house.
Problem was, it took the police a month to clean up the lab. Then another month of getting the stink out of the house, painting, fixing the burnt or broken walls, replacing doors and floor coverings. Ick.
No more cash tenants for me.
October 7th, 2009 at 12:05 pm
thanks for the tips
James W