10Dec
Rental Application Fraud

Covid & The Evolution Of Rental Application Fraud

In March 2020, leasing offices were compelled to change their day-to-day operations tackling regulations amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Property management companies adapted to contactless tactics by making leasing and rent payments more accessible in a remote friendly environment utilizing online applications and payment portals. This necessary measure was deployed with the safety of staff, residents, and potential customers in mind. However, this change has created an opportunity for intentional deception.
Application Fraud has always been a problem for leasing agents. However, with the high adoption rate of online applications, property management companies have seen a 9% monthly increase of reported fraudulent applications citing from September 2020. This number continues to climb as cunning tools and techniques are readily available to doctor documents and more individuals are maintaining self-employed status. A person can be whoever they want to be without a face-to-face interaction. Driver's license, Pay Stubs, Bank Statements and other income verification documents can be falsified. An approved applicant can move into a unit with no intention of paying rent. Meanwhile a property management company is liable for the unit usually resulting in additional legal expenses trying to evict a fraudulent tenant.

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10June
Rental Application Fraud

Rental Application Fraud - What You Need to Know

The housing market has seen a seismic shift with the economic fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic. High unemployment and minimal stimulus relief means tenants still struggle to pay rent. Housing is in demand like never before, since many people are on the verge of homelessness due to mass layoffs and have nowhere else to go. Because of this, many people are resorting to rental application fraud to secure a place to live, often by lying about their income.

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2Feb
Revenue Management & Tenant Concessions

Revenue Management & Tenant Concessions in 2021

According to a study from Zillow, tenant concessions are twice as common right now in 2020, compared to the off-season of February earlier this year. Tenant concessions are renter benefits such as free parking, gift cards, smart watches, even discounted rent. Property management groups, and landlords are getting creative as we head into the next "off-season," especially in markets that can't rely on students this fall.

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4Jan
Dear City Mouse

Dear City Mouse, Ready For a Move?

So, you're looking to move? What an exciting time! Moving is a huge life change and presents an opportunity for a fresh start. When exploring places online you have endless options and multiple factors to take into consideration. Searching for a home not only involves finding a home but assessing living cost, weather, recent growth, school performance, and proximity to work. It is a complex decision with an abundance of evaluated variables but let's make it simple by reviewing the pros and cons of living in the city versus the suburb.

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28Dec
Not Today - Covid 19

Yes, COVID-19 is Terrible. Rent is Due. The Covid Response.

Every day we hear about businesses, restaurants, and properties completely turned upside down from the global pandemic. Every day ourselves, we decide where to draw limits, our comfortability with time in public, and with so much unknown, making plans on what to do next. We need some structure somehow, and there are limits to the plans we can make. As I figured out my own finances, spoke to friends and family going in and out of unemployment, I couldn't help but wonder, how do we create a plan to ensure we make it out to the other side of the mask? Today I'll be reviewing a strategy for property managers and landlords, to spend time on pieces of the business that leverage the long-term success of their properties. After all, we want to be around as long as possible, and we have renters that need a (safe) place to shelter right now.

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7Nov
Decision Tables

Decision Tables — Fair Housing Friendly Tools

Have you ever noticed a collection account on a credit report and were unsure as to whether it was a real estate related collection? Stop guessing and start decisioning! Using and understanding the data provided by our tools will significantly improve your decison making and your rent collectability.

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7Nov
FICO Score

How FICO Identifies Tenant Risk

Many landlords rely upon rental scores to estimate the relative financial risk of leasing an apartment. In addition to estimating risk, rental scores are an objective and consistent way of reviewing relevant applicant information, and help speed the application approval process.

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17Nov
Eviction Reports

Eviction Reports: Do they really work?

When I talk to customers about our Enhanced Landlord Search (or "Evictions Report"), most often I'm met with the same two responses. "We've tried the Evictions Report in the past and it never seems to work" or "we already have an Evictions Report... why would yours be any different?"

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8Nov
Apartments For Rent

Landlord Rental Decisions - Did I Pass?

In this ever-changing rental market, companies are trying to keep occupancy rates high, while maintaining units leased by qualified tenants. Rent comes in all price ranges, from very low to unreasonably high. Market rates are in a constant state of fluctuation and at this moment they're rising. A landlord may have to adjust their criteria and be more flexible to get the "perfect tenant." Even a tenant with a job, good credit and a rent to income ratio above 4 times the average may be underqualified in this volatile market.

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20October
Equifax Disaster Shreds On

Equifax Disaster Shreds On

Equifax has had quite a year, and it seems like it's only getting worse. In early September, Equifax suffered a data breach, exposing the personal information of nearly 143 million U.S. adults. Recently, an additional 2.5 million Americans were added to the behemoth sized list of hacking victims. Following the infringement, we learned their website was hacked including links leaving users vulnerable to malicious malware. Equifax is a company with a few conflicts to juggle including the IRS backing out of a contract with the credit giant. Despite all of this, Equifax still wants to take care of you by providing credit freezes and credit alerts.

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20September
Equifax Data Breach Identity Theft

Harvey, Irma, Jose, Equifax - Disaster!

Have you ever looked through your credit card statement and been surprised to see a bunch of charges and none of them belonging to you? No, I did not just spend $350.00 on new fragrances from perfumania.com. I do not own a car so why would I need $70.00 worth of gas. Suddenly, you are overcome with insecurity, anxiety and fear. You start to panic. Beads of sweat running down your face.

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24August
Wanted: Perfect Tenants

Wanted: Perfect Tenants

The perfect tenant is something desired by every landlord across the Country. What qualities are landlords coveting the most? Obviously, the top characteristics are someone who pays on time, keeps the property clean, and submits maintenance requests through the proper channels. Anticipating whether a tenant is going to be a gracious saint or an absolute headache isn't as simple as reviewing an application. To have the most complete picture possible for your tenant, it is important to screen your tenants.

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26July
Criminal Data GPS

Criminal Data GPS

In our current age of technology, our maps are on our mobile devices and filled with more information than ever before. Most of these devices have global position system (GPS) integrations providing highly accurate location information. GPS without a map shows us where we are without direction to an alternate location, and a map without GPS lacks the guidance to get us to our desired destination.

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19July
System Integration

System Integration

Like most industries today, the property management industry has many vendors offering a wide range of services to tenants, landlords and property managers. These services range from ancillary services like tenant background screening and online payment processing to core services like lease management and accounting. While the diversity of services available today has greatly improved and simplified the task of managing properties, it also presents a real challenge to individuals and companies that rely upon them - managing the flow of information between independent systems where critical data resides.

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6July
Credit Collection Accounts

How is a collection report reflected on my credit report?

Creditors report the status of your account whether it is in good standing or if it's a collection to all three major credit bureaus. All information in your credit report shows lenders the credit worthiness you have accumulated. Therefore, if an account has become a collection it will appear in your credit report as a bad account and will remain there for up to 7 years. Collections decrease your credit score and will determine how another lender will decide to approve loans during the time of your application.

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13June
Criminal Background Checks

One in Four People Have Criminal Records
Is your tenant one of them?

You have four applicants in front of you, could you pick out the one with a criminal record? Would you know what to look for? Do they even have a 'look'?!

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8June
All About Credit Scores

720, 690, 840 - What do these credit scores mean?!

Let’s face it, FICO scores are important. They’re one of the most comprehensive tools which lenders use to help guide their decisions. And those decisions can, in turn, impact your life immensely. But what exactly is a FICO score? What are the fundamental elements that compose this humble three-digit number? And what are some steps that you can take to improve it?

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23May
Fair Housing Tenant Screening

Fair Housing - Say What?!

Real ID, Inc helps clients stay compliant with fair housing. We want to make sure people are treated equally throughout the rental process. The fair housing act of 1968 protects people from discrimination when they are renting or buying housing.

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18May
Ford Vs Toyota

Ford, Toyota, and Credit Scores
What do they have in common?

The relationship between Transrisk and FICO score are like that of Ford and Toyota. Two cars developed for a similar reason. They are the same mode of transportation but constructed with a different material, model, and value.

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9May
Girl Ponders Credit Score

Will Your Credit Score Make Him Run?

What if your partner was like your car salesman, your mortgage broker, or your landlord? What if they had access to your credit score before first meeting you? What would it say about you? Would you still be together?

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8April
Secrets

You're moving in with him?!? Did you know...

You are in a committed relationship and planning to move in together. Obviously, when partners have gone ahead with the move in stage you feel like you know everything about your partner. You know their favorite food, favorite color, favorite movie, and credit score.

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