The Gap Investors and Real Estate Agents Have in Screening

When is comes to screening it is not an equal playing field, but why? Many investors don't know that they have a problem until it is time to screen a tenant. What is the issue? Small landlords and real estate agents cannot view credit information without credit bureau approval.

So let's go get approval. First we start with an office location. Do you have an established office location with locking file cabinets, paper shredders, and all of that behind lock and key? If you are like most you do not and are working out of your house.

Let's assume for a second that you do. You are a small to medium sized landlord and have the office it takes so let's move onto requirement number two: 100 units. This is now a set rule, but most bureaus will not even spend the money to send an agent to your office without 100 units under management.

How many property management companies manage over 100 units? Very few. The issue then becomes how do you gain access to the applicants personal data?

The answer: you don't. We all must follow the Federal Fair Credit Reporting Act. Also, credit bureaus are not authorized to release information to anyone who has not gone through compliance. Once you have it, it is a felony to share that information with your owner.

This is where we start looking for as many tools online to get this information to make a good decision. Once we find the software, what is the first thing to do? Go through compliance.

This was a major issue that we dealt with when building websites for property managers. We decided to take a hard look at what data you can view while in compliance and decided to compile that into a report which we call a RentReport. We will get into this in another post.

RentScreener was born out of necessity from our clients needing a solution. With our RentReport you too can now start getting all of the necessary information to make an informed decision about an applicant for your rental property.

Whether you are an investor with one house or a real estate agent that is procuring a property, RentScreener will work for you.

Dave Borden

CEO • Royal Wine Taster

With a resume that includes West Point graduate, Captain of the West Point Team Handball team (which, interestingly, is also referred to as “Borden Ball” around the world. Google it. We’re not sure which name came first, but we’re pretty sure Dave could tell you), US Army Chinook helicopter pilot and Co-founder, President & CEO of what is now the leading website in the country for advertising long term residential rentals, it stands to reason why Dave has a place at the PMW kitchen ...

With a resume that includes West Point graduate, Captain of the West Point Team Handball team (which, interestingly, is also referred to as “Borden Ball” around the world. Google it. We’re not sure which name came first, but we’re pretty sure Dave could tell you), US Army Chinook helicopter pilot and Co-founder, President & CEO of what is now the leading website in the country for advertising long term residential rentals, it stands to reason why Dave has a place at the PMW kitchen table: his appetite for success. And, well, because he keeps us laughing.

As our resident funny-man (possibly self-proclaimed), his booming voice can be heard spreading the PMW gospel to anyone who’ll listen. And, frankly, even those who have no interest in property management. (Don’t they teach “Inside Voice” at America’s oldest military academy?)

But his high-decibel, funny ways become awfully serious when it comes to staying one step ahead for the good of our customers; because Dave has been there. As a second-generation property manager from Colorado Springs, CO, he knows the struggles that property managers go through and painstakingly dissects every step of their process to come up with ways to ease their burden.

As former CEO & President of RentClicks (which went on to become Rentals.com), he strategically positioned their business to become NARPM’s first official partner and was awarded NARPM’s National Affiliate of the Year three times.

When he’s not devouring industry information at our kitchen table, you might find him bellying up to a plate of wings while watching his beloved (understatement) Broncos, flipping channels in search of a historical documentary, searching out a tennis match or preaching the ways of the world to his pre-teen sons, Andrew and Brady.