Property owners today know all too well, the struggles of maintaining and managing multiple properties. Property management software is solving many problems with features like tenant screening, rent and lease management, reports and analytics, etc.
If you have multiple applicants interested in your property, you would definitely want to select the safest, most reliable, and least troublesome candidate from the pool of requests. Of course, it is not possible to personally approach and investigate each prospective tenant.
That brings us to property management software! If you are looking for a more efficient way to screen tenants for their background, you might want to take a look at Yardi’s tenant screening system- ScreenWorks Pro
Yardi is a software company based in USA that creates applications for property management and real estate companies. ScreeningWorks Pro (earlier called Yardi Resident Screening) is an automated system for tenant screening developed by Yardi. It is aimed at helping property managers and independent rental owners to verify their applicants’ background.
Pros
Thorough background check
ScreeningWorks Pro offers a comprehensive background check on applicants, including their credit score, rental history, criminal record, and eviction history. According to their website, they claim to pull credit reports from the three major credit bureaus from the US (Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion).
The criminal record check screens applicants for history of terrorism, drug trafficking, sex offenders, and social security fraud. They also claim that rental history reports are based on data from Experian RentBureau- a nationwide database of more than 18 million residents.
Identity verification
ScreeningWorks Pro gives you the opportunity to ID verify your applicants through authenticating documents like a driver’s license or a passport. According to their brochure on ID verification, they use biometrics, artificial intelligence and computer vision in their vetting process.
AI automated employment verification
ScreeningWorks Pro also accesses applicants’ income history, including details like employment history, banking information and paystubs. They claim to carry out employment verification through an automated AI process, and as a result, have a high completion rate.
Not only can property owners initiate employment verification, they can offer applicants the option of uploading their own employment and income related documents, like paystubs. ScreeningWorks Pro claims that they access employment and income related data from The Work Number, who has a database of 350+ million records from more than 80% of Fortune 500 companies.
International background check
ScreeningWorks Pro offers an international background check, in case your applicant has recently moved to the US from another country. They have partnered with Nova Credit, a consumer credit bureau, to transport credit history across select countries.
Instead of having to manually read non-U.S. documents related to credit history, they use Nova Credit’s services to obtain reports in a more familiar, standardized formats. This report includes a credit score, and details like account status, opening and current balance, credit type, payment frequency, credit limit, etc.
They claim that Nova Credit maintains high standards of data collection, maintenance and security. This initiative is applicable in a select group of countries, that includes Australia, Brazil, Canada, Dominican Republic, India, Kenya, Mexico, Nigeria, South Korea, Spain, and England.
Testimonials from customers
Yardi’s website features several testimonials by their customers. For example, the Vice President of Property Operations and Construction at BRG Realty Group, Mr. Bob Kohlman, has said “At one property, we reduced delinquency by 7% and increased average occupancy from 87% to 94%”.
Garrett Salk, the Vice President of Sherman Residential, said, “ScreeningWorks Pro helps us select qualified residents and prevent renter fraud. As a result, we keep high-risk applicants out of our communities and save significant costs including lost rent, evictions and property damage”
While these are only a couple of testimonials, and there is no way to find out how true they are, it indicates that ScreeningWorks Pro is being used by respectable names in the industry.
Cons
Pricing plans not displayed
The Yardi ScreeningWorks Pro website doesn’t mention its pricing plans anywhere. As a result, there is no way to find out what services are available in a free or basic plans, and which ones cost extra.
For example, the website claims to provide instant ID verification, international background check, and income and employment verification. Some of these things, like ID verification, are not just luxurious add-ons, but basic details that every property owner would want to know.
Without access to pricing plans, it is difficult to estimate what kind of services will be available within one’s budget. There is no way to compare Yardi’s pricing plans with other competitors before making a decision. These concerns are especially important because ScreeningWorks Pro is considered to be more accessible to small property owners and independent managers.
Limited customer support
ScreeningWorks Pro offers customer support via phone number or email. There is no chat bot, or query section where we can be instantly connected to a representative. The customer support page has some information about settling disputes between applicants and property owners. But apart from that, there is not much information in the form of FAQs, help desks or pamphlets.
Missing information in reports
There are certain types of information that is not available in a ScreeningWorks Pro report, like judgment liens, i.e., a court ruling where the person had their property confiscated or taken away by a creditor, because they couldn’t pay back their debt. Criminal records and eviction data of applicants in certain states cannot be accessed, and hence don’t show up in the report.
To conclude, ScreeningWorks Pro provides comprehensive background checks and has positive customer feedback to show for it. On the other hand, they need to be more transparent about their pricing plans, and build a better system for customer support.
Often, there is a lot of information about a product or service that becomes available only to an insider, a customer who is availing the services or an employee who is providing services. So, this review does not take into account first hand user experience.
This article is entirely based on information from the ScreeningWorks Pro website, including their brochures and customer reviews. As a result, all of the information is backed by documents and web pages set up by Yardi themselves. Hope this helps you in your search for a good tenant screening software!
