Real Estate Investors Online

I talk to landlords today who pay for their background checks and credit checks out of their own pockets. WHAT??? Don't be afraid to charge your prospective tenants a fee for their application. Here's a good reason why in this article titled "The best reason to require an application fee". Check it out then post some of your reasons for charging or not charging a fee.

Steve, I am not against charging a fee. I personally do not. I loved the article. I use the same questioning at the end.
" So Mrs. BadCredit, please understand that I will be running a credit check. Is there anything I should be aware of now? "
Now get ready for an Academy Award performance !

Do you perform your own background checks and verifications or do you have a company do it for you? I used to do all my own until I realized that when you deny for bad credit there are certain rights the applicant has such as being given a copy of his credit report and challenging negative information that shows up on the report etc. When you use a company you can bow out of the " sticky stuff " and let the credit verification company deal with all the compliance issues etc. The good applicants never balk at paying the fee. Then again, neither do some of the "not-so-good". That just keeps things interesting...