During the years that you own and manage rental properties in the Portland Oregon area, you may encounter one or more tenants who submit an application to you with fake rental references.

Sadly, in today’s world, fake rental references are often very easy for anyone to create thanks to technology. The good news is that any savvy owner or landlord can easily spot them by simply following these tips.

Tip #1 – Dig Deeper

The first thing to do when someone submits potentially fake rental references to you is to dig deeper by taking the time to call the rental references that they’ve listed on their application and pretend to be a renter who is looking for a rental property.

If the phone number that they listed on their application is fake, the person who answers the phone will obviously not be ready for your call but, if the reference is real then they will be ready to take your call and provide you with information about the rentals that they have available.

Tip #2 – Analyze What Their Former Landlords Say About Them

Once you’ve inquired as to a potential tenant, the next step is to call those rental references again and inquire as to a landlord.

During this step it’s important for you to listen to what the landlord says about their former tenant because chances are if they don’t provide you with plenty of details about the individual, they most likely are not a real landlord.

Tip #3 – Request Details from An Applicants Past Rental References

Another important thing to do when reviewing a tenant’s rental references is to request verifying details from their previous landlords. Most landlords keep details about their former tenants like a move in / move out dates, birth dates, and their social security number. These details will help you to confirm if the rental references that your applicant has given you are legitimate or not.

Tip #4 – Research A Landlords Property Tax Information

Let’s say that you’re still not “sold” on the landlord after speaking with them, to dig deeper and get concrete evidence that they are a landlord you should look up tax information about their property online.

Following through with this tip will give you absolute proof that the landlord is indeed who they say they are and has rented to your applicant in the past.

Besides the tips that we’ve mentioned in this article, another thing that you can do to determine if an applicant’s rental references are fake or not is to cross-check the landlord’s phone number that your applicant has listed on their application with the landlord’s information online.

Last, of all, you could also check your applicants and their former landlord’s social media profiles to see if either the applicant or their former landlord is in pictures on either profile. It’s unlikely that a landlord would want to hang out with one of their tenants and if they are in more than one picture together it’s likely that they are friends.

Learn More About Property Management Systems

Are you feeling overworked when it comes o managing your Portland Oregon Rental Property? If so, we can help! Property Management Systems specializes in full-service property management for companies in the Portland area.

To learn more about our services, contact us today for a free quote at (503) 515-3170 or click here to connect with us online.