S4 E07: Verification of Rent - An Untapped Screening Opportunity?

In this episode of Tech Talk with 20for20, Dom Beveridge is joined by Sam Stein (Snappt), Vitaliy Merkulov (Renter, Inc.), and Amanda Cox (President and COO of Bellaire Multifamily Management) to explore why verification of rent (VOR) is returning as a core part of screening—and what modern technology now makes possible.

The conversation covers:

• What is VOR and how does it help? How VOR uses prior-landlord records to reveal late payments, balances, damage, notices, pets, early terminations, and evictions that never reach credit files.

• Why VOR nearly disappeared—and why it’s back: The old landlord-to-landlord phone call broke down as site teams became mobile and harder to reach.AI-driven outreach (calls, texts, emails) and call-center support have restored completion rates to 75–80%.

• The operator’s view: mitigating risk and easing workload: How Bellaire turned around a distressed portfolio, using VOR to uncovere 25 undisclosed evictions, 61 outstanding balances, and hundreds of late pays—none of which were in the standard screening.

• What VoR has to do with fraud detection: 5–10% of VOR results conflict with what core screening reports and 5–7% of reference contacts are provably fake

• The critical difference between ability to pay and willingness to pay, and why it matters for screening

Sponsors for this episode:

Western Reporting, resident screening and income verification  by Inhabit

EliseAI, AI-driven automation that helps streamline communications and improve operational efficiency.

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