LeasingDesk Introduces Corporate Housing Screening

By Rachel Block, ReporterIrvine, Calif.–LeasingDesk recently integrated corporate housing functionality into its resident screening product.“I think our clients helped us choose to go this route,” says David Carner, vice president of LeasingDesk Resident Screening. “A lot of applicants are renting for companies — our customers need to run criminal and sex-offender background checks and make sure they will pay the rent. The old way was to take an application and fax to the screening company, then pull up the Dun and Bradstreet report (the most well-known business report) and fax a copy of the results back to the customer.” The new system, which took about two months to build from the time it was designed, is an easier process for screening the credit rating of corporate clients, in that on-site leasing agents are able to enter corporate information into the system immediately, returning a credit score and corporate lease recommendation. This abolishes the necessity of on-site staff to have to manage evaluations and make credit decisions.”There were a couple of problems — not many companies fax today, it was inefficient, our customers had to do something different than what they were used to and it was a pain for them to do that,” says Carner. “They have to handle not just a credit report, but also a business credit report which is very different from consumer credit reports. What made this really difficult for companies in the past is they would get this strange looking report back and wouldn’t know what to make of it.” The increased functionality reduces risk by providing a wider review of a prospective company’s financial status and studying its validity and credit score in comparison with current market situations. The process consists of the company being approved for corporate leasing and then being processed through LeasingDesk’s criminal screening databases. This leads to a more resourceful and competent corporate credit rating that will result in a more reliable company recommendation. Camden Property Trust, a leading national multifamily Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT), introduced LeasingDesk’s corporate housing screening to 10 of its communities in April 2008 and plans to present the system to the rest of its communities later on. “Camden is one our customers who was an advocate of bringing it online,” Carner says. “Camden is one of many apartment owners that rents to companies and likes to develop relationships with companies. They would frequently run computer credit reports, and now it will be easier for them. They don’t have to think about it anymore, it comes back with a red or green light, and now companies like Camden has that much more time to focus on their customers.”(Pictured: Screen shot of the online application)