Housely
Rental property managers have to struggle with a wide range of problems. For example, they have to have people skills because they need to be able to keep their tenants satisfied in order to maintain a constant stream of rental revenues flowing into their coffers. Similarly, marketing skills are useful for reaching their likeliest tenants, accounting skills are useful for monitoring their property’s performance from period to period, and technical skills are useful for responding to technical issues in their units even if they have to outsource the more serious problems to their contractors. However, one of the biggest challenges for rental property managers is the fraud committed by would-be tenants misrepresenting themselves, which can come with serious consequences.
In brief, rental property managers want tenants that they can trust to pay their rent on time. In effect, this means that they want tenants with the economic means to pay their rent as well as the personal integrity to live up to their economic obligations. Since there is no way to figure out someone’s economic means as well as their personal integrity, rental property managers have to look at their would-be tenants’ past, which provides said individuals with plenty of opportunities to make themselves seem better than they actually are in an attempt to artificially inflate their chances of being accepted.
This is a serious problem because unreliable tenants make it more difficult for rental properties to earn rental revenues from their units than it should be. Partially, this is because they tend to have higher chances of becoming unable to pay their rent, and partially, this is because that comes with a host of knock-on effects. For example, there are rules and regulation in place to protect the rights of tenants, which are extremely important but at the same time, also make the eviction process for unreliable tenants both exhausting and time-consuming. Something that is particularly problematic because some of them have been known to inflict deliberate damage on their units when they are informed about their evictions. Summed up, unreliable tenants are bad bets from a financial perspective, meaning that rental property managers should exercise considerable time and effort towards keeping them out of their units.
How Is Rental Software Helping with Rental Property Managers with Fraud Detection?
Like most business-people, rental property managers use software to help them with their tasks by streamlining a lot of their processes as well as providing important support for them. Since fraud is such a serious concern for rental properties, it should come as no surprise to learn that rental software come bundled with features designed to assist in the detection of such issues in would-be tenants.
Generally speaking, rental software detects fraud by using much the same means as rental property managers. In short, they check databases as well as other trusted sources of information for past events that could be interpreted as warning signs about either a would-be tenant’s economic means or personal integrity. Should they find something that can be considered troubling, they will pass it onto their user, who will make the final decision based on that information, the personal sense of judgment developed through their expertise and experience, as well as other relevant factors.
The difference between rental property managers doing this on their own and entrust it to their rental software is enormous because rental software can process a lot more information in a lot less time, thus freeing its user to focus their time and effort on something better-suited to their skills and talents.
What Are Some of the Best Rental Software Companies Out There?
There is a wide range of rental software out there with a wide range of features meant to provide rental property managers with a helping hand for their screening processes:
CoreLogic
CoreLogic’s choice to team up with ID Analytics is a classic example of how rental software can detect fraud. In short, ID Analytics has a system called ID Score, which serves two purposes. First, it makes sure that someone is who they claim to be. Second, it comes up with an assessment of their riskiness based on their previous interactions with various businesses, thus enabling other businesses to make a more informed decision. By teaming up with ID Analytics, CoreLogic is planning to incorporate ID Score into its rental software, thus providing its users with a superior means of evaluating the potential costs and benefits of accepting a would-be tenant. (1)
Buildium
Buildium is another excellent example of how rental software can support the screening process for rental managers. It starts by letting its user choose a custom set of requirements for its desired tenants. Then, it weighs would-be tenants against these requirements by conducting a background check, which means looking at their employment histories, criminal histories, and previous interactions with rental properties. Afterwards, Buildium compiles the resulting information into a usable format for its user’s ease of use, thus taking care of the most time-consuming aspects of the task while still letting its user maintain the final say over what will happen.
Rent Manager
Rent Manager does something similar with its screening feature by checking a would-be tenant’s criminal history, credit history, and previous evictions, which can be completed in a matter of minutes. This serves as a powerful illustration of how much rental software can help rental property managers make a decision on would-be tenants, since a similar process carried out by humans would take much more time, even if they knew where to look as well as the most effective and efficient ways to look.
Further Considerations
Like other business software, rental software is becoming more and more sophisticated, which in turn, means that they are becoming better and better at detecting fraud whenever and wherever it is to be found. As a result, it seems probable that rental property managers will come to rely upon them more and more in the future, which will be beneficial not just for the smooth and uninterrupted operation of their rental properties but also the chances of honest and upright tenants getting what they need when they need it.
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