Chicago Property Management Blog

Guide to Tenant Screening

Guide to Tenant Screening

Having to evict a tenant is a landlord’s nightmare scenario. What’s worse? The process is arduous and emotionally exhausting for both landlords and tenants alike. That is why MF Cashflow’s solution is to aim to avoid evictions entirely through proper tenant screening ahead of move-in day. 

This guide will unpack why tenant screening is crucial in finding suitable residents. We’ll then outline six steps MF Cashflow Property Management does to screen tenants successfully! 


Why Tenant Screening is Crucial

As a landlord, you hope to find tenants who will feel at home while respecting your property. To find these priceless people, you must screen multiple prospective tenants and choose the best option.

The tenant screening process should be quick but thorough, covering all necessary bases and asking the right questions. MF Cashflow does these things as a property manager to find and keep good tenants for your property! 


6 Essential Steps to Tenant Screening

These six steps for tenant screening allows us to filter through applicants and identify those unsuitable for your property while remaining unbiased in finding good renters. 

  1. Prescreen Tenants in Rental Application

The first essential step to tenant screening is the pre-screening process that we include in a tenant rental application. While most applications live online, they’re customizable to specific landlord needs. We make sure to ask questions that pertain to a tenant’s ability to afford rent and behave respectfully in your space, not anything personal that may raise unconscious bias when choosing a tenant. 

  1. Run Credit Check and Background Report

Once we’ve found a few promising possible tenants, it’s time to run a credit report and background check. While it would be great to trust everything on an application, we’re running a business, so due diligence is critical. 

  1. Verify Income and Employment

It’s time to do a little digging! We ask for a current employer for a reference on the tenant application. LinkedIn is also a quick and reliable way to verify a tenant’s income and employment. We always remember to look beyond face value and see if their connections are genuine before we move the possible tenant further up in the application pile. 

  1. Double-Check Everything

If a tenant has made it this far into MF Cashflow’s tenant screening system, you should have double-checked everything. Call every number, Google all prior addresses, speak to past landlords, and check legal records for previous evictions. Any number that doesn’t work or is disconnected needs a chance to be corrected by the applicant. If it doesn’t reach a real person, it’s a no! 

  1. Interview Applicants

It’s time to finally meet our applicants, which is a standard nowadays, especially if someone is relocating. Ask questions to get the information you need to make the best tenant decision in the final steps of tenant screening. 

  1. Make a Decision

When making the final decision in the tenant screening process, we stick to the facts. These qualifiers may not yet lead us to the perfect tenant, but they are an unbiased way to narrow your search. 


As a property manager, we make sure that we offload your tasks as a landlord by providing thorough tenant screening, background checks, employment verification, and even rejecting applicants who weren’t awarded tenancy. Plus, MF Cashflow handles anything that comes up after the tenants move in, too! Moving is stressful enough, now, you can step back and relax while your property manager, M Property Group and MF Cashflow Property Management, oversees the project! 

M Property Group & MF Cashflow Property Management has over 65 years combined experience in specialized full-service property management and real estate services to fit your needs as a landlord. We tailor our services to ensure that you have the highest level of service for your home. We treat your investment as our own. We manage and lease residential homes, condos, townhouses and multi-family buildings and portfolios that range from one unit to 100 units and more.

Call M Property Group LLC & MF Cashflow Property Management today at 708-719-0977. We are here to help maximize your profits and minimize your headaches. 

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