Free Background Check Manual and Forms 

The background check forms are ready. The background check manual is complete, updated and online. You can access the manual here. All efforts to upload the forms to the site were unsuccessful (and my head is sore from all the wall-banging) so if you’d like a copy of the file, send an email to: cmbrz@conniebrz.com and write Background Check Forms in the subject line.

These puppies are more than fill-in-the-blank forms. Step-by-step instructions are included and by working through the process, you’ll understand more about public records and background checks after one completed screening than most will understand in a lifetime. Even if you chose to outsource, you’ll save by knowing which checks are necessary and which can be skipped altogether.

Just a reminder– these forms are perfect for nonprofit groups and small business owners so if you know a church or synagogue, little league or home repair service that might be interested, just point them to the website and tell them to click the Tenant Screening tab at the top of the homepage.

And with that, my civic duty is complete and the Ghost of Background Check Business Past is laid to rest.

Happy Day

Popularity: 10% [?]

Tags: background, background checks. tenant, screening, tenant screening, tenants

Sections 1-12 are now up.

Click the Tenant Screening tab at the top of the page… more to follow soon

For clarity, a few quick reminders:

This was written back when I ran background checks for fun and profit. My audience at the time were my clientele–small business owners and  nonprofit organizations such as softball leagues, soccer teams, churches, and volunteer fire departments.

Some of this material does *not* apply so much to tenant screening, but I’ve included it anyway on the off-chance that someone other than landlords might wander over and take a peek.

A few of these sections look rather simple… that’s because it *is* simple. Public records are just that— public. It’s knowing which records to check, where to look and what to look out for that’s tricky. Once you have the contact information for your state and county, you can whip these out in no time. There’s a learning curve, but its not that stinkin’ steep.

Tenant Screening/Background checking is something I do not outsource–ever.

Here’s why:

Let’s say someone named Joe Smith applies to rent your lovely little duplex. You go online, pay your $25 for a nationwide criminal records check and it comes back negative. You heave a sigh of relief and sign up your felon.

Do you have any idea which database your online service checked? How often the database is updated? Did someone type in Joe Smith, and scan the thousands of positives? Did they look for aliases? Verify by birthdate? Etc?

We are not the police. We are not the government. We do not have access to the same background and criminal record info plastered all over CSI. Huge databases are notoriously inaccurate– your chances of finding criminal history are much, much higher when you access what *is* available yourself.

A bunch of the material below is explanatory in nature. The forms actually walk you through the process. I haven’t figured out how to post the forms in a readily accessible format. Hopefully, that will happen very soon. If anyone has any ideas, please shoot me an email cmbrz@conniebrz.com or post a comment and I’ll get back to you.

Popularity: 8% [?]

Tags: , background, background check, background checks, nonprofit, nonprofit organizations, screening, small business, tenant, tenant screening, tenants

The first attempt at uploading the background check manual was declared an utter and abject failure as of 12:16 am CST accompanied by the sound of much weeping and gnashing of teeth.

 Therefore, one of my personalities made a motion that the whole thing be uploaded to the blog via copy/paste. The motion carried as everyone else went to bed where they belonged.  

This will take time. WP will probably balk and mess up all my formatting.

Heavy sigh…

Popularity: 11% [?]

Tags: background, background checks, checks, screening, tenant, tenant screening

Free Background Check Manual

Several years ago, I started a background check company, proclaimed myself king and anointed Mr. Brz vice-king. We had a lovely website, lots of lovely traffic, tons of people calling and went broke in record time. Something about giving all the goods away without compensation of a monetary sort probably contributed.

Couldn’t help it though… most calls were from nonprofit groups with zero budget and pitiful sob stories. I gave away background checks right and left and wrote them off with great abandon… until the vice-king informed her highness that the coffers were empty and the website was coming down.

In a final effort to salvage the business, I wrote a background check manual complete with forms, links to state and local internet resources, articles with step by step instructions and all sorts of goodies and offered it for sale as a download. I tried like everything to talk the freeloaders into buying the manual and running their own background checks. Didn’t happen. So down came the website and all the files went in a box somewhere.

The Part Where We Become Landlords

Our adventure with real estate began shortly thereafter and I found that all the information I’d toiled over was imminently practical in the real world of tenant screening. By running our own background checks, we save a bunch and I can customize each screening based on the information found on the credit report and during preliminary calls to ex-landlords and personal references.

Yesterday, while over visiting Rents “R” Us,  a recent post on tenant screening brought to mind that  box of cd’s and files. Considering the sad state of our storage room, honestly there didn’t seem to be much hope, but apparently miracles do happen. So, over the next few days, I’m planning to weed through the files and post anything that might be relevant to tenant screening, including the background check manual.

It may take a bit as I’ve got to find the best way to organize 50+ pages of manual, plus forms and whatnot.

Check back soon if you’re interested.

Quick Update: The background check manual is ready. Click the “Tenant Screening” tab at the top of this page for updates :-)

Popularity: 8% [?]

Tags: background, background check manual, background checks, screening, tenant screening, tenants