I have two questions. First, can anyone recommend a good company for doing thorough criminal background checks at a reasonable cost? I’m going to have probably 50-70 to do in the very near future.
My second question is regarding how to deal with existing residents in a newly acquired park…
I just acquired a 56 lot park in need of a turnaround. The bank owned it for 3 years, during which time there have been no rules or rent. I spoke to a former owner and learned that he sold homes for $1000 “to every crackhead he could find” (he was justifiably upset with the bank). There are currently 39 homes in the park. I’ve met many residents and found the majority to be decent people. There appear to be some exceptions, but not many (I’m guessing 4-5 problem sites).
I found a property manager who wants to issue eviction notices to all residents and then make them apply if they want to stay in the park. I understand his desire to ‘clean house,’ but I was planning to go about it differently. I intended to send a letter of introduction to each resident, explaining that if they wish to remain in the park, they must submit an application/resident information form, sign and abide by our rules and lease, and pay their rent on time. The application/info form requests permission to do a criminal background check, which we would do. Anyone with serious crimes would be evicted. I feel this approach would save me from having to send eviction notices to everyone (at $70-$90 each) and would not needlessly upset those we’d want to stay. There are a lot of elderly people in the park and I don’t want to scare them with an eviction letter.
But since I’m new to this, I’m not sure of the best way to handle it. Would you send out a blanket eviction notice and require those who wish to stay to apply? Or send a letter asking them to comply with our requirements and evict those who don’t?
Thanks to everyone who has offered input to my questions thus far. I hope to acquire enough knowledge to be able to answer beginner’s questions in the future.