Sat in on a landlord meetup at a diner in Akron and learned more in 2 hours than 6 months of podcasts

I was just grabbing breakfast but ended up eavesdropping on a table of guys talking about tenant screening and one of them said he uses a credit check service that costs less than $20 per report. Has anyone else found a cheap background check tool that actually works for rentals?

3 comments

3 Comments

chen.fiona1d ago

You said he uses a credit check service that costs less than $20 per report - does that include an eviction history search or just the credit score part? I've seen cheap options that skip the good stuff and leave you with gaps. Curious if this one covers the basics or if you need to pay extra for the full picture.

kevin_martin1d ago

Skip the cheap services, many small landlords just run a basic background through the county courthouse for free.

emerycarr1d ago

Can't believe someone's actually paying twenty bucks a pop for credit checks... that adds up fast if you've got a handful of applicants. @chen.fiona you're right to be suspicious though, most of those cheap services are just pulling a basic score and skipping the eviction part which is basically useless. Found that out the hard way when I thought I was getting a deal and ended up with a tenant who had two evictions from three years ago that never showed up. County courthouse stuff is free like Kevin said but it's a pain if you're doing it for multiple people in different counties.