In my last post, I discussed the process of listing my property online to try to find good tenants. In this post, I’ll cover my process for screening tenants and how Properly helped make it fast and easy. (Note: this is NOT a sponsored post. I’m only discussing the Properly method here because that’s the service I used for screening tenants, and it made my life really easy, so I feel like it deserves a shout-out.)
Processing Applications with Properly
If you recall from the last post, I decided that I wanted my target demographic of renters to be people who had internet access and who used computers regularly. I only listed the property online, and put no signs on the property at all. As part of my online-only campaign, I decided to use Properly to have tenants submit their applications and to run their own tenant screening reports. George from Properly has been reading this blog for quite some time, and he’s mentioned his company as being an alternative way for landlords to screen tenants. I looked into it, and asked him about a million questions in advance—all of which he very kindly and thoroughly answered—so I figured I’d give it a shot.
I was initially planning to run tenant screening reports on my own through the Apartment Owners’ Association of California, since they offer a very comprehensive tenant screening for about $16, which is far, far cheaper than any other place that I’ve seen. Most alternatives are somewhere around $30 for a credit report only, with the prices escalating from there if you also want a criminal background check and eviction report.
The only problem with running the credit myself through the AOA is that I would have to have an inspection done of my office in advance, which means coordinating with an independent company to do the inspection. That most likely means some missed work hours, and there are specific requirements that company is looking for before they would approve me. Unfortunately, the AOA website doesn’t list all of the requirements to pass the inspection. Some of the items are listed, including having a shredder and a secure (locked) file area, but I’ve also heard that they require a separate locked office, and there may be some other requirements I don’t know about. Logically speaking, the locked office space requirement must also mean that the space is used only by the landlord/manager (otherwise what’s the point of the lock, right?). This poses a problem, since my “office” has been almost entirely taken over by my musician boyfriend. Even if I swapped out the doorknobs to be the locking type, it would be difficult for me to explain why my boyfriend’s upright bass, keyboard, trombones, drum set, and a host of guitars were in that same room.
My other issue with running the credit screening myself is that I had been so busy with the renovations that I hadn’t had time to get the office inspection scheduled. Oops.
Setting Up My Properly Account
So I gave Properly a try. I created a log-in as a landlord and set up the property address for each unit. That literally took only about 2 minutes.
Letting Tenants Know How to Apply Through Properly
After setting up my account, the website gave me a separate link for each of the properties (one for each apartment), so I could copy and paste those links wherever I wanted tenants to have access to them. Some landlords might put an application link in the online listing itself. I opted instead to put the application link in my stock email response that I sent to prospective tenants who contacted me through Craigslist, Zillow, Trulia, or Hotpads. In that email, I was able to explain my screening criteria, the basics of the Properly application process, and a showing schedule for the property. After reading that information and deciding whether they wanted to apply, the tenants could then click on the link for the apartment they were interested in, create a profile for themselves on Properly’s website, fill out a basic application, and pay the screening fee to run their own credit and background check.
If the tenant wants to apply with a co-applicant, the tenant just adds a co-applicant via email, and their applications are linked in the Properly system. Once the background check and application are completed by all co-applicants, the Properly system sends me an email notification letting me know that I can go in and review it all.
I had a number of applicants who applied, and only one of them said they had any technical difficulties figuring out how to apply through Properly. The others had zero problems, even though the system was brand new to them and virtually all of them had to figure out how to add co-applicants. As for the one applicant who had trouble, after further investigation, it turned out that she had mis-typed her co-applicant’s email address, and that was the source of her issue. Operator error.
Screening Tenants
The Properly format made screening tenants really easy. Each application is stored under the individual property address, so it’s easy to tell which tenants were interested in which apartments at a glance. In my case, since I had four units that were all fairly comparable and available at the same time, I had each tenant apply only once for their favorite apartment, and had them email me separately letting me know which units they were interested in, in order of preference.
There are essentially two parts to each application: the regular filled-out application portion, and the screening report. The basic application looks like this:
The screening report consists of a credit report, criminal background check, and evictions report. First, the credit report:
Next is the criminal background check:
That was easy. Last is the evictions report.
In all, I was very happy about how easy to read the reports were, and how thorough the information is.
What Makes Properly Different
There are several things that I learned about Properly during the process that set it apart from the other credit checking services.
First, the other credit checking services—the ones that don’t require a home office inspection, anyway—usually don’t give you an actual credit score. They’ll give you a “letter grade” for the tenant. How do they determine the letter grade, exactly? Good question. I haven’t found any that list their specific criteria. All I’ve seen are vague descriptions about regular on-time payments leading to an A grade and collection accounts leading to a D grade. Call me a control freak (everyone else does), but I want to know the tenant’s actual FICO score, and I want to see their transaction detail. Is there an old utility bill for $100 that they just haven’t bothered to pay in the last few years? Did they damage a prior apartment beyond the amount of their security deposit and skip out without paying for the repairs? That’s information I want to know. Also, sometimes you get a tenant who seems like a pretty good applicant but their credit letter grade indicates there might be some collection accounts on their record. The tenant claims that it’s an old medical bill from an emergency room visit that she was unable to pay. You have no way of verifying that with just a letter grade. You need the detail to review it.
Properly gives me the full credit score and detail about each of the accounts, including the amount of the monthly payment obligation (so long as that info is available from the credit bureau). That helps me better evaluate the reason for any dings on the tenant’s credit report. It also helps me factor in any large car payments or student loan payments that the tenant might be obligated to pay, which is critical when determining whether the tenant’s income is enough to pay the rent.
Another benefit of Properly is that the credit report is tenant-generated. The tenant goes online and fills out all of the documents and runs their own credit report through the service. Because the tenant is running their own credit, it counts only as a “soft pull” and doesn’t ding their credit. Also, the tenant can pay the single screening fee of about $35 and share that same report with multiple landlords. In a highly competitive rental market like Southern California, that gives the tenant the ability to apply to multiple places without spending a fortune just on application fees. For me, as a landlord, I like the idea that the tenant might be able to re-use the report. It makes it easier for me to recommend that a tenant apply, even if they might not get the unit. I don’t like to feel like I’m wasting a tenant’s money, especially because the average renter is a lot more strapped for cash than the average landlord.
Even though the credit report is tenant-generated, as in the tenant is the one ordering the report, the data itself comes directly from TransUnion, so you know it’s reliable and the tenant hasn’t tampered with it. There have been times in the past that I have accepted a tenant-provided copy of their own credit report, so long as it was dated within 30 days of their application. I did this as an accommodation to prevent the tenant from having to pay to run their credit report again and suffer another ding on their score. But it always made me a bit nervous because it’s so easy to Photoshop things these days. Because the Properly report comes direct from TransUnion, I don’t have to worry about its authenticity.
Properly’s online system was great for keeping me organized, too. The tenant is responsible for completing their application in full, and the landlord receives a notification only when the application is completed. This is a much better set-up than I’ve used in the past.
Before, I would show a property and get the tenant’s contact info. I would email the tenant an application and consent form to run their credit report. The tenant might have access to a scanner to fill it out and send it back, or they might not. I might end up having to coordinate an in-person hand-off. Typically, you need an actual wet ink or scanned signature on at least the credit check consent form. You could try to take an electronic (typed) signature, but your credit screening company often won’t accept it. Running the credit would be a separate process for the landlord. You end up having all of these applications in different states of completion, and then you have to keep them in a safe place so you don’t have social security numbers floating around. It can be a real headache. With Properly, though, all of the application information is kept in one place online, the credit report is already run, and I can review all of the candidates for each property in that one spot. I don’t have access to the tenant’s SSN or driver’s license number, so I don’t need to worry about confidentiality as much, either.
Properly’s Fees
Properly costs landlords nothing. The tenant pays $34.95 (per adult) for their own screening report. Because Properly charges the tenant that $35 fee, I opted not to charge the tenant an additional fee to review their applications. California law caps the amount that you can charge a tenant for applying at around $44, I think. I wasn’t going to bother charging an extra $9 for each applicant. It’s just not worth it to coordinate collecting a check or cash from the tenant to cover that amount. Besides, I don’t think any landlords ever saw a meaningful boost to their net operating income by charging a ton of screening fees. If the costs are covered by the tenant, that’s good enough for me.
In addition to tenant screening, Properly also offers some other services, including processing electronic ACH rent payments. My understanding is that you can set up the system to bill your tenants a set amount per month, and the tenants can electronically send their rent payments directly to the landlord’s bank account. I’m not using this service, so I can’t tell you much about it, but it is free, and my guess is that a lot of landlords will use it. (I have my tenants deposit their own rent into my bank account using deposit-only ATM cards. I’ll probably post about that another time.)
Things a Landlord Needs to Do in Addition to Properly
There were a few things that Properly didn’t do that I needed to take care of on the side. It wasn’t a big deal, but just make a note of it if your issues are the same.
- Properly doesn’t show you the tenant’s SSN or driver’s license number. That’s great for applicants, but not great for tenants, because if someone skips out on the rent, you want to be able to collect it. Fortunately, this was easy to take care of. On the lease form itself, I had the tenants fill out their SSN and driver’s license numbers, and I asked them to send me photos of their driver’s licenses as well.
- There’s no way for tenants to upload pay stubs or bank statements to Properly. Again, this is easy to take care of. The tenant just sends a separate email with those documents. (In order for Properly to do this, it would have to have its own secure online storage. The whole point of the tenant-driven online screening is to avoid having any storage of that sensitive information, so I don’t fault Properly for not providing this service.)
- You have to make sure your tenants email you separately with the full names of each of the intended occupants of the property. Each adult has to run their own application and screening report through Properly, but as a landlord, you might need to know the total number of occupants, which would include children.
- Fair Credit Reporting Act compliance: keep in mind that if you reject an applicant based on whole or in part on their credit score or background check, you have to provide that tenant with an “adverse action letter.” The FCRA has requirements for what that letter must contain, and many states have their own laws prescribing additional information that must be in the letter. I was hoping that Properly would automatically send out adverse action letters upon denial of an application, but the separate state law requirements make that virtually impossible. Once I drafted my basic rejection letter, though, it was easy enough for me to simply email that to the rejected applicants.
Properly is Still Evolving
Properly is still a fairly new company, although I can tell that a ton of careful thought and attention to detail went into it. The really great thing about the company is that they’re interested in the long game. They actively seek out feedback from landlords, and in my case specifically, George bent over backward to see how the process was going and to make any changes to the system that were possible to meet my needs. Here are just a few of the things he was able to improve based upon my questions and feedback:
- Improved access to applicants’ and co-applicants’ email addresses, to make them easier to find
- Added a field on the application to indicate the tenant’s expected move-in date (helpful when you’re trying to fill a unit as of a certain date)
- Added the portion of the credit report which displays the monthly payment obligation on loans (if that information is reported to the bureau).
I don’t know how realistic it is to expect personal attention like that as the company grows, but I’m really impressed at how much effort they are making to address the needs of landlords. If you’re considering taking online rental applications and you haven’t given Properly a try, I highly recommend it.
Do you screen your own tenants, and if so, what is your process for doing it?
That’s great to hear you used Properly – George has been reading my blog as well.
I don’t screen my own tenants, but with tools like this it is becoming easier and easier. I may decide to self-manage my out of state rentals one day rather than paying an on-going property manager. It sounds crazy, but investors are successfully doing it!
I think it would be tricky to self-manage from afar, but it seems like it could work. Maybe you do your own tenant screening using something like Properly, and find a local real estate agent, or property manager, or even a really good former tenant who stayed local, and pay them by the hour to show the property to people in groups. For repairs, of course you could always find a local handyman or contractor and have that person be on-call.
The biggest hurdle for out-of-state investing for me is having to rely on a property manager, especially when they charge such a steep amount of money. The turnover costs for a new tenant seem ridiculously high, and making it a commission-based compensation just encourages turnover. If you decide to give remote management a shot, let me know how it goes!
Hey Brian,
We have landlords who use Properly to manage their properties remotely so I wanted to share some things that they do.
First, the application and screening process is done online so you can handle that aspect yourself from anywhere. As Yetisaurus mentioned, showing the property to people can be done using someone local. Most of our remote landlords ask a friend or family member who live locally to help as a favor. You really only need to schedule 2-3 showings in groups so it doesn’t require THAT much time. We also have landlords who travel to the property during turnover. In most cases, turnover only happens once a year and it’s a good opportunity to check on the property.
Second, for repairs, finding local contractors online isn’t difficult. It may take a bit of research upfront but you can have a vetted list of local contractors ready for different types of future repairs. Now, the advantage to having a property management company is hopefully that company has a list of contractors ready at all times and can offer discounted prices. The repair costs are still passed on to the landlord. However, if you consider the fees paid to the management company every month, no matter if a repair is needed or not, you may find it cheaper overall to pay a bit more for each individual repair. Remember, management gets paid the same cut every month and in most months, all they are doing is collecting a rent check.
Third, collecting rent can be done online. Whether you use Properly or another payment service, you can set up bank-to-bank transfers for rent, utilities, and other bills pretty easily.
As with anything, managing something yourself requires more effort but I think it will keep getting easier and easier with technology and experience.
So happy to hear that Properly’s gaining traction! I recently used their credit check process myself, and from a tenant’s perspective, it was really great to be able to check my real-time scores for accuracy before beginning my search. From what I understand, if a landlord runs it, the tenant generally won’t be able to see it until after a decision on the application has been made.
I also really enjoyed the added security of being able to share my scores with landlords without their collecting sensitive information prior to signing. It’s even scarier thinking about piles of credit checks sitting out in the open in poorly kept property management offices or worse, discarded in trash bins without shredding.
Thanks for reading and for weighing in on the tenant’s perspective, Khanh! You’re right about the fact that if a landlord runs the tenant’s credit him- or herself, the tenant won’t be able to take a look at the credit report first. In fact, I recently discovered that some credit screening services forbid the landlord from giving the tenant a copy AT ALL. The only way the tenant could get a copy of the credit report in that situation is if the landlord sends an adverse action letter, and the tenant uses that to request a copy of their credit report from the bureaus directly.
I’m glad to hear Properly made your application process simpler and I really appreciate this thorough article describing your experience.
We are working on potential solutions to address the items you listed in the “Things a landlord needs to do in addition to Properly” section. We want our product to eliminate as many offline tasks as possible. Your feedback has been tremendously helpful as we continue to improve and build new features. Thank you!
Thanks, George! I’m really impressed at how hard you and your team work to try to make the product the best it can be. It’s already great and I’m happy you nudged me enough times to get me to try it. 🙂
This is an awesome service. I wish it was available when we were screening folks.
Well hey, maybe you’ll jump back into the real estate game as a landlord in the near future, and you can take advantage of it! You were a property manager before, right?
Thanks for the thorough rundown of the service!
How did your tenants feel about Properly’s screening method? Was there anyone against using it?
Thanks for reading and commenting, Sharon! The tenants seemed totally in favor of it, actually. At first they were just a little unsure of how it worked, but when I explained that it was a soft pull on their credit report and that they could try to use the screening report with other landlords, they seemed to really appreciate that the process was a benefit to them as well.
Thanks for the write-up. I haven’t used Properly before but after reading your post, I think it would be beneficial for the reports to have a summary or landing page. That is to say that page one basically contains all the aggregate stats like credit score, credit usage, # of credit lines, credit limits etc. This would allow quick scanning for the landlord…the details of each section can follow suit in subsequent pages.
Also, maybe giving an overall score to applicants based on all the data in addition to providing the credit score would be beneficial. Most of the report looks to be stats so applicants can easily be ranked, saving the landlord even more time.
Thanks for reading and responding, Richard! The first page of the credit report is a “landing page” similar to what you described. It’s only if you scroll down and click on the drop-down arrows next to specific accounts that you see the detail of each account.
I get what you’re saying about an overall score for applicants, but the only way I could see that happening is if Properly set up its own grading rubric for credit score, collection accounts, evictions, income, etc. Logistically, I’m not sure how that would pan out. You could decide that evictions are 10% of the score, collection accounts 25%, etc., but how do you assign points within those categories? Negative ten points for each eviction? Negative 5 points for each payment over 30 days old?
The other issue is that I think every landlord is going to place a different weight on each of those factors. That would make it difficult (or at the very least, unhelpful) for Properly to decide what factors are important and assign them a grade, and then to synthesize it all together. Some landlords I know don’t look at the actual credit score at all. They just check to make sure the accounts are mostly paid on time, and that there are no evictions or major felonies on the tenant’s record. Some others, like me, place a heavy weight on the tenant’s credit score.
If it helps, I felt like the whole process of reviewing a tenant’s application took no more than a few minutes. You can take bullet point notes on a notepad or Word document as you go through, if you want a quick reminder later of the things you liked or didn’t like about the application. I think that might be the best practical way to accomplish what you’re looking for.
Great write-up! Definitely going to look into this. My parents recently closed on their second home and are looking to rent out the old one. We’re brand new to the renting game and I’ve been googling a bit about the process. Just wondering — would you also recommend a site like Properly for someone who only has one or two properties, and would most likely want to have an in-person (as well as on-line) relationship with the future tenant? Would the experience differ in any way?
Hi Tim, and thank you! For a newbie landlord, you and your parents are absolutely doing the right thing by doing your homework first. Tenant screening is MANDATORY, and Properly would be perfect for someone with only one or two properties. Also consider getting the NOLO guide for landlords in your jurisdiction. It’s a great starting point.
I have known of several landlords with only one or two rental units who don’t bother doing credit checks and background reports at all because they don’t know where to start to find a service that can run the necessary reports. That’s usually their biggest mistake. They find a charming tenant who gives them a good “gut feeling,” but after the tenant moves in and destroys the place, the landlord finds out that the tenant already has bad credit and evictions on their record, so the threat of one more eviction doesn’t faze them. Even worse, some of those serially bad tenants are very skilled at the delaying-evictions game, which can cost months of lost rent that is ultimately uncollectible in the end.
Properly makes the screening process super easy. It costs the same amount, no matter how many or how few properties you have. Some of the credit screening companies charge a lot of money to low-volume landlords to run screening reports. I’ve seen some services that want to charge around $70 to run a credit check, criminal background check, and eviction report. In California, you can only charge the tenant around $44 for screening, so if you want all that info, you could end up eating the additional cost. Some landlords opt for just a credit report to keep the screening cost below the legal limit. But then you risk ending up with a serious criminal in your property, or someone who’s been evicted a half-dozen times.
As far as having an in-person and online relationship with the tenant, Properly doesn’t change that at all. Think of all the people you know in person who you also text or email on a fairly regular basis. It’s just like that. I met all of my prospective tenants in person and took all of their applications online. I’ve emailed, texted, and talked to all of them at different times. In fact, to the extent that Properly encourages electronic communications in addition to in-person communication, I think that’s a great thing. It’s a lot easier for me to text with some of my tenants regarding repair issues and the like, because I have a written record of it.
The other thing your parents might like is that Properly allows for electronic rent payments via ACH, and it’s totally free. My boyfriend has his old house rented out, and his tenants always mail or hand-deliver their check, which has caused problems a couple of times. (Once the tenant even dropped off the rent at the wrong house.) I’m going to try to talk him into switching his tenants over to the ACH pay system. If he doesn’t do it with this set of tenants, then for sure I’m going to have him switch over for the next set of tenants.
Let us know how it goes for all of you as new landlords!
Wow, thanks for such a great and detailed response! I’ll definitely give it a look see and let you know how it goes! The rent payment thing sounds super convenient as well!
Tenants have to pay to apply to live in a property??? Consider my (Australian) mind blown!
I know, it seems like we do EVERYTHING differently, doesn’t it? 🙂
Very interesting post – as a tenant, Properly seems like an extremely useful tool, especially the ability to use the same report to apply for multiple properties. However, as Properly grows, I wonder how this lack of friction might affect landlords. As a tenant, filling out individual applications and paying separate application fees for each property typically deterred me from applying to more than 1 or 2 units. But with Properly, if tenants are able to take their one application and use it with multiple landlords – thus minimizing their commitment to 1 or 2 apartments, does this mean it will be more difficult for landlords to nail down preferred tenants who will ultimately choose to sign the lease? This may already be an issue for landlords (I honestly have no idea), but just wondering since Properly seems like an awesome system that will be highly valued by prospective tenants.
Man, that is a REALLY great question. I’ve never thought about that. If you assume that all properties are identical, then I suppose it would increase the number of qualified applicants that each landlord would have to sift through before they got a tenant who said yes. All properties are not identical, of course. So I think the landlords with desirable properties might not notice an impact at all, because theoretically, all of the best applicants would have applied for those properties either way. It could mean that those landlords get more applications in total, and have to rule out more undesirable applicants, but when you’ve got some good ones in the final running, it’s really easy to quickly decide which ones aren’t going to cut it and to drop them out of the running.
For the landlords with less desirable properties, it might be an extra hassle to find the good tenants, extend an offer to have them rent, and to be turned down by the tenants who were accepted at a better property. Those landlords might have to sift through more applications and make offers to more potential tenants before they get a tenant who accepts. But the market might find a way of sorting that out, too. Those landlords might reduce the rent or improve their properties, either of which would make their property more desirable.
It would be an interesting social and economic experiment. And a benefit to the tenants, either way.
Love the description of the service! I like how you are provided with a ton of information which is great when screening for tenants. I saw in one of your comments about landlords weighting things differently. What are the top factors you look for in the application and how do you weight them?
Thanks, Janice! The top factors I look for are good credit, sufficient income, and someone who I would want to live there as a neighbor, mostly in that order. The credit score w/ details is huge for me. I’ve seen low income people who busted their behinds to make sure their credit stayed squeaky clean. Those tenants live up to their obligations, and they usually take better care of the property, too (in my experience. Yours may differ). I would take a tenant with borderline income and great credit over a tenant with ample income and bad credit. Good income is helpful, but if that high-earning tenant doesn’t pay their creditors regularly, then they’re useless to me. I don’t want to have to chase their paycheck with a garnishment order later, especially if I might be in line behind their credit card company, their car loan company, and maybe a prior landlord. The last factor, the good-neighbor factor, I think is partially important for getting someone who will take care of your property, but more important for making sure they don’t scare your other good tenants away.
Hi Yetisaurus!
George has kept me updated on your experience with Properly since sign-up, and I was ecstatic after having read your glowing review! The patience and feedback you have offered us has truly been invaluable.
To tack onto your previous comment, I (admittedly & embarrassingly) once also tried to take a shortcut when finding tenants for my rental unit. Being that it was my first experience as a landlord, I was immediately overwhelmed with the waves of paper applications. Mix-in the multiple screening report vendors + general lack of online resources = Full-Blown panic mode within a week…
I ended up accepting a young couple purely based on my “gut”, and due to exaggerations on their application in addition to rent checks being “lost in the mail”, I ended up having to go through the dreaded evictions process ~ eventually costing me about 3 months worth of rent. It was THE WORST.
That disaster was one of the main reasons why Properly was founded – to ensure that both renters and landlords never have to feel overwhelmed by the rental cycle again. If I had a knowledge-base like George (or any one of our other support staff) to bounce general questions and concerns off of, I genuinely believe that I would not have freaked out so quickly!
The tools that Properly provides, in addition to the resources and guidance that we offer, are all to make certain that no one has to go through the nightmare experiences which sometimes come with renting. And as we scale, I can guarantee you that personal attention and customer experience will always be our top priority (because that’s also what I would have needed back then!).
Thank you again Yetisaurus, and we are excited for the many more successful rental cycles to come!
Thanks, Michael! No patience required on my part at all. You guys made it super smooth from the get-go.
Gut feeling is the absolute worst way to go, although I get why landlords sometimes get overwhelmed and so they convince themselves that it will be okay based on their gut. I always think of it this way: would you loan your car to someone you just met five minutes ago and trust that they will bring it back to you unharmed in a few hours? If the answer is no, then why the heck would you let them move into your property based on five minutes of knowing them? True, your building isn’t going anywhere, but I’ve seen firsthand how much damage someone can do when they want to destroy your property. Letting a bad tenant in can cost you lost rent, eviction fees, and sometimes insanely high repair bills, which could easily total up to the value of a car. One of my worst tenants once cut all of the drywall out in the bathroom, hoping to find mold. They didn’t find any mold, but it cost a ton of money to put that place back in order once they moved out. Background checks are 100% mandatory, in my opinion. Thanks for making it so easy for us to do them!
Thanks for the review. As a new rental property owner, I’ve been looking for ways to make the process easier for myself and prospective tenants
That’s great, Dennis! Thanks for reading and commenting. Congrats on being a new rental property owner, and let us know how that goes for you!
Loved this article! As a future landlord, I have heard how difficult and inefficient the process is — almost to the point the negatives may outweighs the benefits. Properly is the answer to a number of challenges faced by landlords and renters and I can’t wait to tell all my friends about this service and the demonstrated first class customer experience!
Thanks, Katherine! Yes, please do get the word out! Properly is new, and we need them to stay in business, so you and I can use them again in the future. 🙂
Wow. I didn’t know services like this existed!
I’ve just finished finding tenants for my new home and this would have saved me a lot of time and headache.
Thanks for the thorough write up Yetisaurus, I definitely will give this tool a try next time I’m looking for tenants.
Thanks for reading and commenting, Kevin! I had no idea this sort of service existed either, until George told me about it. I’m definitely sold on it. If you end up using it, check back in and let us know how it went for you!
Thanks for the great write up! I unexpectedly become a remote landlord a few years ago when I had to move for work. In the frenzy, I opted for a management company, but now that the dust has settled (and the accounts have been tallied!) I have been toying with the idea of self management for quite some time. The main thing that had been holding me back was this idea that they (management company) “knew something that I didn’t” and “there must be a reason why they get paid so much”. I was worried that I would pick a bad tenant when a professional would have seen the warning signs. I will probably give self management a shot soon.
Thanks for the feedback, Ludovic! I would give self-management a shot if I were you. Especially since you’ve owned the property for a few years, so you probably have a sense of how much work might be involved in keeping the property maintained (and hopefully you know of a local handyman who you can trust to do repairs and bill you fairly for them). Choosing good tenants is actually not that difficult, and I wouldn’t be surprised if you had a better sense for it than your management company. I don’t mean to hate on management companies, but it seems to me that most of them are interested in the “short game,” i.e., get the unit filled ASAP and collect the commission. If the tenant damages the property or has to be evicted later, the management company doesn’t bear any of those costs, only the owner does. At that point, the management company just shrugs it off and then goes out to find another warm body to fill the place to collect a new commission. Maybe I’m being overly cynical. There are SOME property managers out there who really play the long game, but they’re pretty rare, I think.
Thanks for the insightful article. I will be keeping Properly in mind for the future when I am ready to rent out my property! Seems like the perfect tool for first time landlords.
Everything is in one place.
Thanks for reading and commenting, Susie! Check in and let us know how it goes when you decide to rent your property!
Great article! They totally should have sponsored this post for you, because you nailed it. I just started courses to get my real estate license here in Florida for the pure purpose of a side hustle to buy my first rental home. By the time I’m there, Properly should have really upped its software and usability. I’ll certainly keep them in mind when the time comes.
Thanks, CFC! You know, I’m actually glad they didn’t sponsor the post, because at least people will know that I’m being honest about my experience with it. Good idea on the real estate license. It’s nice to be able to buy property for yourself at a discount and waive commission, or at least to get paid the buyer’s half of commission at closing. And for sure give Properly a try when you’re ready!
Great article! I used Properly last month to screen my latest round of applicants and it went smoothly. Last year, I used a third party to run credit reports and had to do an onsite office inspection. You mentioned some of these items – I bought a cabinet, shredder, lock, and other things to pass. Earlier this year, I moved across the country and obviously left that cabinet behind. I thought I would have to repurchase and then schedule a new inspection for my current house. I’m happy I came across Properly in the nick of time. I agree with many points you made in this review.
Thanks for weighing in, Jonathan! The ability to pick up Properly as a last-minute solution was a huge help for me, too. If I had to scramble to do the office inspection, it probably would have cost me another week’s worth of vacancy, and that multiplied by four units would have cost roughly $1,600. Ouch.
Fill out your renter profile once and update only when you need to. When you apply to a rental listing, your application is automatically populated with your information.
That’s a great point, Eddie. It certainly makes it easier for the tenants to be able to do that. It’s nice to have technology making the process more efficient, when for so long it was a slow, clunky, paper-oriented process. Thanks for reading and commenting!
Wow. It’s a great article. I don’t even know about this service. I will definitely try Properly when rent out my apartment next time. Until that time I have run credit reports and background checks via online rental platforms – Rentberry and Zillow. The first one use Experian for tenant screening. I should say that I was satisfied with this service as it does instant credit reports 24/7.
Thanks, Jackie! I’m sure Properly would love to have you. They’ve updated their service now, too, so they can help you put together good looking postings for your properties and have them automatically post to Zillow, Hotpads, etc. They also do 24/7 instant credit reports like you mentioned.
I’m impressed that you’re already doing online tenant screenings! I don’t know much about Rentberry. I Googled it just now and it looks like tenants bid on properties instead of landlords listing them at market prices. Has that worked well for you? I can imagine some downsides to that approach, but I’m curious about what your experience has been. Have you gotten rents that are at least as high as market value?
Hey Jackie, I’ve just done a little more homework on Rentberry. There are a number of things about it that I think aren’t as good as Properly. I guess my first clue would have been that they didn’t put as much information like sample applications and other things on their website.
But anyway, onto the specific items: their rental application seems to be a little too basic. For example, under employment, they have room for the employer name, job title, and monthly income, but that’s it. There’s no information on how long they’ve been working there. I would want to know if they’ve been working at their current job for 5 years, or if this is their first “real” job and they’ve only been there for a week. Also, I see that Rentberry posts to apartments.com and realtor.com, which is good, but doesn’t post to Zillow, Hotpads, and Trulia. You’d be missing out on a LOT of renters by skipping those three sites.
The biggest downside seems to be that the landlord has a very short window of time to decide on a particular tenant. I’ve heard that the landlord only has 8 hours from when the tenant submitted the application to make a final decision. I’m in favor of making a quick decision, but if the application is automatically withdrawn after only 8 hours, that would be a problem for me. What if I have to follow up with the applicant to get missing information? What if I need to check their references, and their former landlord takes 24 hours to call me back? I understand that they’re trying to keep the heat on because it’s an auction, but you’re not selling someone a toaster, you’re letting them move into your house. It takes a little research to make the right decision.
Anyway, if you’re happy with Rentberry, then that’s great. I’m not trying to talk you out of it. Those are just some things that I learned that would make me want to use a different service instead, like Properly. Thanks again for reading and commenting!