Renter screening for MTR

[Yuxi Li]

Hi all!

I’m looking to get started with renting out a house in SW Austin 4b2b fully furnished. My thought was to rent it as a mid term rental on Airbnb and vrbo etc because it’s in a desirable residential neighborhood walkable to schools and shopping. 

My question is whether those of you who rent on these websites do background checks on renters or have renters sign any additional rental agreements and just generally how you go about screening renters for 30+ day rentals. 

Appreciate any advice!

[Celine Crestin]

I would personally screen my MTR tenants and have them sign a lease. Anything over 30 days is lease-worthy IMO. You can also list those rentals in the MLS with a realtor and probably find quite a lot of traction, as there are many home buyers who sold their home and need a short term place to stay (1-6 months typically) until their new home build is completed and utilize their realtors to help them find something.

You can screen tenants with a variety of services online; I like to use my smart move, but there are several others. Many of the online rent collection sites also offer tenant screening. 

Hope this helps. Feel free to reach out should you have additional questions.

[Jordan Moorhead]

@Yuxi Li I have a few monthly rentals and so does @Conner Olsen on my team. I just let Airbnb do their thing and do my normal due diligence on Airbnb guests like asking why they're coming, making sure they have a valid ID and try to avoid locals unless they have a good reason like home shopping

[Bryan Noth]

@Yuxi Li I have used Airbnb to great success for the MTRs.  As @Jordan Moorhead said, make sure the renter checks out when requesting to book on the platform and use your specific screening materials or questions.  I use a second agreement all tenants / guests have to sign in advance on STRs and MTRs.  

You will gain attention if you put your listing on the MLS as @Celine Crestin mentioned, but you will also likely incur significant lease up fees, potentially on both sides (listing and showing). If you have an HOA that has 3 or 6 month minimums I believe this could be a viable route but a 30-40% lease up fee for a single month alone would likely devastate the profit margin.

[Yuxi Li]

Thanks for the advice! I don't have an HOA luckily. For the separate lease contract do you use a template from somewhere?

For example the fireplace is sealed and no longer operational and I would like to make sure there’s some language that ensures guests don’t use it

[Zeona McIntyre]

You can find leases on legal sites like LegalZoom and Rocket lawyer which are specified by state. I only use leases if I rent directly, not on a platform like Airbnb & VRBO but something like Furnished Finder or if the guest extends offline. 

Instead of listing on the MLS, if you are trying to capture seller's or buyers looking to rent furnished for a few months in the interim you can get a lot of requests from Zillow.

[Conner Olsen]

@Yuxi Li I don't write any of my own leases. I use Airbnb and VRBO and let them handle the tenants. They also have a $1 million insurance policy that has paid me out for damaged items in the past.

[Tiffany Cohen]

If booking off an OTA platform you definitely need to protect yourself especially if your state has tough regulations that side with tenants. You can pay for software such as https://superhog.com/

[Jin Zhang]

Quote from @Celine Crestin:

I would personally screen my MTR tenants and have them sign a lease. Anything over 30 days is lease-worthy IMO. You can also list those rentals in the MLS with a realtor and probably find quite a lot of traction, as there are many home buyers who sold their home and need a short term place to stay (1-6 months typically) until their new home build is completed and utilize their realtors to help them find something.

You can screen tenants with a variety of services online; I like to use my smart move, but there are several others. Many of the online rent collection sites also offer tenant screening. 

Hope this helps. Feel free to reach out should you have additional questions.

Hi Celine, have you asked Airbnb renters to go through smart move? I just started on Airbnb as MTR. There see several groups approached me. But they all disappeared after I sent them to smartmove. Do you or they normally pay for screening? How do you go about asking them to do it? Thanks! 

[Jin Zhang]

Quote from @Zeona McIntyre:

You can find leases on legal sites like LegalZoom and Rocket lawyer which are specified by state. I only use leases if I rent directly, not on a platform like Airbnb & VRBO but something like Furnished Finder or if the guest extends offline. 

Instead of listing on the MLS, if you are trying to capture seller's or buyers looking to rent furnished for a few months in the interim you can get a lot of requests from Zillow.

Do you do a background screening on your MTR guests from Airbnb? Do you ask them to pay for it or you pay for it? Thanks 

[Jin Zhang]

Quote from @Bryan Noth:

@Yuxi Li I have used Airbnb to great success for the MTRs.  As @Jordan Moorhead said, make sure the renter checks out when requesting to book on the platform and use your specific screening materials or questions.  I use a second agreement all tenants / guests have to sign in advance on STRs and MTRs.  

You will gain attention if you put your listing on the MLS as @Celine Crestin mentioned, but you will also likely incur significant lease up fees, potentially on both sides (listing and showing). If you have an HOA that has 3 or 6 month minimums I believe this could be a viable route but a 30-40% lease up fee for a single month alone would likely devastate the profit margin.

Hi Bryan, do you do background screening with your MTR guests through Airbnb? If so, do you or they pay for the screening fee? Thanks 

[Bonnie Low]

Yes, absolutely do a background check. I have used Keycheck for background checks. It runs a criminal background, credit score and eviction check. Most of my guests are traveling medical professionals who undergo an additional check through their employer so I accept a copy of a fully executed employment contract (redacted is fine because I'm not interested in how much they're getting paid). I also have a state-specific lease that I use for every adult who will be staying in the property. All adults must pass the background check and all must be signers of the lease agreement. 

[Celine Crestin]

Quote from @Jin Zhang:

Quote from @Celine Crestin:

I would personally screen my MTR tenants and have them sign a lease. Anything over 30 days is lease-worthy IMO. You can also list those rentals in the MLS with a realtor and probably find quite a lot of traction, as there are many home buyers who sold their home and need a short term place to stay (1-6 months typically) until their new home build is completed and utilize their realtors to help them find something.

You can screen tenants with a variety of services online; I like to use my smart move, but there are several others. Many of the online rent collection sites also offer tenant screening. 

Hope this helps. Feel free to reach out should you have additional questions.

Hi Celine, have you asked Airbnb renters to go through smart move? I just started on Airbnb as MTR. There see several groups approached me. But they all disappeared after I sent them to smartmove. Do you or they normally pay for screening? How do you go about asking them to do it? Thanks! 

 For MTRs I do not use air bnb. so no I have not. I feel like guests going through that platform do not expect to be screened as air bnb has processes and procedures in place to protect both your interests. Screenings would apply when using a realtor or self renting it out. :) Hope that helps!

[Zeona McIntyre]

@Jin Zhang I don't do background checks on guests coming from Airbnb, but you could. You would just want to let them know that is something you need upfront. I would make them pay for it. 

[Summer Chen]

Hi All, 

I'm freshly starting my MTR and have quite some questions that need your help: 

For tenant screening, I plan to do the routine background (eviction, criminal) screening and credit check. Should I also call the tenant's previous landlords x 3 to ensure positive rental history?

For income verification, I plan to obtain a copy of the employment contract. Should I call the recruiter/employer to verify employment? Is it necessary to request recent 3-month paystub, bank statement, or last year's w2 form? 

When the property is rent to a group of 3 traveling nurses, should each of them individually fill out the complete rental application form? Should I charge each nurse the application fee? One lease will be signed by all three together. I plan to use baselane to do online screening and am not sure how it works yet.

Regarding pet allowance, do people usually request to leave the pets in the front or back yard? or actually allow pets to run inside the house? 

For monthly rent payment, do you usually have it due by the first day of each month or pay in advance like one week ahead of time?

Is it feasible to ask the tenant to move the trash can to the curbside for weekly trash pickup when the property is rented as an entire unit? 

How long is a typical MTR lease? I have been editing based on a state-specific lease template which contains 15 pages. I'm wondering if it is too long.

Any input is greatly appreciated!