Find People Locator

On your first contact, get as much information as possible. And get it in writing. A case in point. Whenever I take an application for a rental property, in addition to name, address and phone number, I also ask for and get the Social Security Number, Driver License Number or State ID. On the first contact their defenses will be down and they are more likely to give you good information. After all, they know, or at least think that you will be checking it all before you rent to them. Other information I get is the contact information (my find people locator) for their current landlord, parents, employer and anyone else that they want to give as a reference.

In the future, if you have a hard time getting a call back because they are behind on the rent, just give mom a call. If you handle it right she will be your free people search. She knows how to get hold of her son or daughter. Don't be surprised if your deadbeat gives you a call just minutes after talking to mama. This doesn't always work, but most of the time I make early bonds with the parents if at all possible. It takes me a while before I use any of the legal avenues open to me for collecting the rent. It is always better to work with a tenant than to try to show him who's boss. For some people though, a show of force is needed to bring them around.

With the information gathered on the rental application, it is a little easier to play "Skip Tracer" but you may not have to. Let the post office be your find people locator. If they move and leave no forwarding address, just mail a letter to the old address and put "address correction requested" on the envelope. Most of the time they have mail they want to keep getting, so they will have changed their address at the post office. For a small fee, the post office will return your envelope with the new address on it.

If you have done a good job of collecting his information when he or she moved in, take a drive by the parents house at odd hours and see if you see his car. If you have picked-up on favorite sports or activities, you may be able to use this information to gain confidence with some of his friends. Tell their friend that you have some free tickets that you are trying to get to them. If you are a good actor, a friend may be helpful, or so they think anyway.

Often the applicant will ask if I plan on doing a background check. By just asking what they may be concerned about will often save you time and money. I will often take someone with less then perfect credit, but I will always check with the current landlord. Talking with the current landlord is often all I need to make my decision. This tells me what importance the person puts on paying their rent. Often it is the case that some bills don't get behind, but the rent is always on time. If this is the case, I will most likely take them if everything else looks alright. If they were often late with the rent, don't take the person as a tenant. Old habits are hard to break.

One type of free search that is quite easy to get on-line is a Sexual Predator search. There are many free software programs that offer this for free. But of course we all know that there is usually some catch. The one that I know of is offered by a marketing company that can make their customers magically pop to the top of your search if you have this predator search software on your computer. You may only want to put the software on a computer that you don't use much or just install it when you need it. If you notice a search result coming to the top of your list when you do a search and it is larger or in some way stands out more than you noticed before. You probably have this type of program. Just beware that your search results are being influenced by an outside source.

One thing that I will do for sure, is a criminal background check. I can tell you several instances where an interested party approached me with cash in hand. And I mean a big wad of cash. If you want to see someone run, just casually mention that you will be doing a routine criminal background check. Chances are you will never see that person again. Whenever someone wants to pay with cash, be suspicious. I will take cash from current tenants, especially those that have a hard time managing their money. But I know the difference between this and someone looking to set-up a drug house.

Do you have any idea what a Meth (methamphetamine) operation can do to a house, not to mention what it does to those that live and work there. Often the damage is done to unsuspecting young children and even babies. This stuff gets into the walls and everything else in the house. The chemicals used in the operation are very toxic, and often the clean-up costs involved to make the house safe to live in again are so high, that it is cheaper to just tear the house down. A criminal background check is a must in my opinion whenever you are renting, leasing or even selling on a land contract. Remember, if there is criminal intent, cost may be of little concern to them. The link at the end of this article will allow you to get some free record searches, but to get a full report there is a charge. They do have an up-to-date database though, which is very important. There is no sense paying a service that does not keep their records up to date. This is a good service in that respect. Give the Find People Locator at the end of this article a try. One word of caution. If you do a search on this Find People Locator, they will be notified if they have an email address and given the chance to pay to see who is looking for them.