Hi. My name is David and I’m the founder of www.UndergroundLandlord.info . I have been in the rental business for over 20 years and have messed up about every way you possibly can. Most of my knowledge that will be shared from this Website comes from the School of Hard Knocks. I will put out a disclaimer here that my collection percentages with tenants is currently and has been for years much higher than average compared to other landlords and property managers so obviously I have learned some things along the way and will be sharing with each and every member.
There is a popular proverb quoted often which reads “Necessity is the mother of invention”. As much as I would like to take credit for Underground Landlord I would have to say a great deal of credit goes to the states which have overran us with biased laws making property ownership damn near sinful and tenants who use these laws to wreak havoc on hard working men and women in the real estate investment world. Not to be left out in the cold but our lovely politicians who are skilled at speaking from both edges of their tongues and not saying anything productive from either. Still yet there is credit due to society as a whole for rearing an entire generation of entitled humans that feel they are owed a living and free housing, medical, love etc. simply because of where they happen to be born. That’s right all of these have contributed to the creation and implementation of Underground landlord. This is nothing more than a vehicle to help us protect ourselves by using others misfortune. And let’s face it, you don’t have to be in this business long anymore to have quite a few misfortune stories to add to the system.
As you have probably already figured out if you have been renting homes for any amount of time the most important skill to being a landlord is Tenant Selection . At some point along the way we all struggle with this in the landlord business. That is why I have developed this site. As a member you place all the tenants in YOUR database. This is important as we will not now nor ever share anyone’s private information. As the database grows by you inviting other landlords in your area you can begin to run prospective tenants against the databases. Our searches are weighted and if you search a tenant that shows up it will not show you the tenant. It will however show you that another landlord has a tenant in his or her database that closely resembles your tenants info.
The site will return up to 5 landlords per search if they are in the site. If you are looking at a prospective tenant and the search brings 5 landlords back to you it means that a person closely matching they person you searched has been placed in at least 5 landlords database. Obviously the choice is up to you whom you choose to rent to but it’s also up to you how diligently you wish to do your background., What I suggest here at www.UndergroundLandlord.com is that you place a notice on your application process noting that you will do independent background checks as you deem necessary.
Also make sure to have prospective tenants initial this as well as sign below. This protects you as the landlord when doing your due diligence. Never underestimate the ability of another human being to drop to the level of causing you problems. Also NEVER rent to anyone without doing extreme due diligence.
Wow this tenant really trashed my rental home. I sure wish there was some type of Tenant Blacklist or Bad Tenant Database to put these guys in. This is horrible! Wait! There is something like that. www.undergroundlandlord.com if I remember right!
We represent landlords. There is an attack on our profession both from the media as well as the government. Landlords are personified as greedy rich people mean cruel and heartless just looking for ways to evict tenants at a moment’s notice. While there may be some out there with this mentality by and large this isn’t the case. Quite the contrary most are very hard-working individuals that are putting all they have into a group of investment homes to provide affordable and quality housing for their tenants.
We are here to help the mom-and-pop landlord as well as the complex protect that investment so they can better serve the community. No one wants to deal with a nightmare tenant despite what many of the states want to force on us. The truth is if we screen our tenants correctly not only does it benefit us, but also the 85% of solid hard-working tenants in the world that want a solid place to live. Look at it like this, if you hadn’t rented that apartment to that guy that raped you on rent and destroyed your appliances then it would have been open for someone else who probably needed it worse and would have taken better care of it.
Our end goal and our mission is to rid this business of the serial tenants, the professional tenants and the destructive tenants. We are going to do this by helping one landlord at a time and providing the means for landlords to help themselves. Thanks for checking us out and we look forward to getting to know you here on Underground Landlord. Sign Up! and Get Involved!
Don’t Hesitate. Sign Up Now While Underground Landlord is Still Free. This is the Future of Tenant Selection!
We have provided an entire page covering navigation of Underground Landlord. All the extra features you may miss if you just glean over the context. Click Here for the Navigation Instructions!
This is exactly the scenario Underground Landlord is built around. First of all you need to make sure you are a member of our site. Sign Up Here if you are not already a verified member. This is to protect us, you as well as tenants.
Next you will want to Add Tenant. This is where you place general information concerning the tenant on your own database within our site.
Now when other landlords on our system search for tenants that match the parameters you input, they will return you in their searches and the other Landlord and you can have a conversation, verify if they do in fact have the same person, and go from there!
Upon signup immediately start checking your tenants against our databases and make a habit to run every new tenant that fills out an application with you against our databases. The fuller the system gets the more likely we will help you avoid a bad experience!
Another way of getting help from Underground Landlord is to help us expand the databases. Make sure to share the link with every other Landlord you know. As you know the first 10000 landlords to sign up are free for life so make sure to get several in your general area, so you guys get a good toe hold on the free market and keep a solid sustainable list of landlords in your general area using the system.
We offer lots of extras for our members to participate in. We have Groups which are a great place to hang out. Post some knowledge or find some tips!
We also offer Forums for you to post your opinions or read up on others’ opinions. Anywhere several Landlords are gathered together trust me there is a wealth of knowledge.
There is lots of talk these days on tenant blacklist. Everyone has an opinion, and you hear many times people state that they are illegal. Well, to begin with, let’s define what a tenant blacklist is.
Upon Searching google with the question. What is a tenant blacklist this is the answer at the top of the page. “A tenant blacklist is another name for a tenancy database or a ‘bad’ tenant database. Run by private companies, they collect and store information about tenants. Real estate agents and landlords may use them to screen people who have applied to rent a property.”
So, for a database to be in existence the data had to come from somewhere, right? Well, where did this data come from? Winston Law LLC did a comprehensive job on tenant blacklist and where they originate. I believe you will be quite surprised. From the name you may think back room deals or mafia guys in trench coats selling vital and illegal information to shady characters. Well, wrong, that’s just not the case at all as pointed out by this article by Winston Law themselves:
There is also a third factor that isn’t always talk in textbook rental property but in fact a real factor into the cost of rent. Bad tenants! Yes, we may want to avoid them but if you have been in the rental business for any number of years you have come across some of these and they can be quite expensive. Bad tenants rent houses or apartments without an intention of staying long. They travel from landlord to landlord and prey on people who do not do their due diligence when performing the tenant selection process. It is important that you preform tenant screening to try to miss out on some of these guys.
Many times, when these types of people weasel their way into your home, they end up doing significant damages to your house before finally being forced to vacate the property. In a retail store environment this would be called shrink. Manufacturing facilities would call it waste but regardless of its name it is a real business cost and must be factored into the overall cost of the product. In this case, rent. Bad tenants have a direct effect on rent cost without a doubt.
