A real estate background check is the perfect tool to ensure that real estate agents and other real estate professionals are trustworthy individuals. Real estate agents are people who have access to customers’ homes, share meetings with them one on one in empty houses and drive them around from one place to another. They also have keys and access codes to clients’ houses.

This calls for a great level of trust to entrust someone with all these privileges. Companies that hire real estate agents as well as the clients of these companies need to know that their safety and wellbeing won’t be compromised by the real estate agents looking after their interests.  Hence a very detailed in-depth background lookup is the necessary.

Take for example someone who is looking to buy a house. This is an important process in their lives and they rely on estate agents to help them through it. Real estate agencies who employ untrustworthy, unqualified and unlicensed real estate agents will not only put the company’s clients’ safety at risk but also their financial wellbeing. This can be very detrimental to the business, ruining its reputation.

Information that can be obtained from a real estate background check include licensing, criminal history, previous jobs, drug use, driving history among them. Employers can use this information to make an informed decision when hiring a real estate agent, resulting in a trustworthy and qualified team.

There are numerous background checks out there that an employer can conduct on an applicant. The employer is the one who will choose the types of background checks that suit or correspond with the job they are hiring for and the information they are looking for.

Real Estate Background Checks

Here are a few of the common background checks that employers go for when looking to hire a real estate agent:

Identification Verification

This is a background check whereby the identity of the application is verified as to whether they are who they say they are.

Criminal Background Checks

This background check is used to find out all criminal records (sex crimes, violent crimes, felony convictions, fraud) that the applicant has that may hinder their chances of getting the job.

Professional License Verification

This is to make sure that the individual qualifies and is licensed to work in the real estate space.

Professional Reference Check

This is to verify the candidates past employment history and find out about their work experience.

Drug Screening

This is to find out if the applicant is not into illegal drugs and substance abuse.

MVR Checks  

This is to verify whether the applicant has any driving related violations like DUIs and also check if their driving license is valid.

Annual Screening

Annual screening can help real estate businesses find new information on employees after they got hired. A lot can happen after they got hired which can affect the performance of the business. Annual screenings are the way to go. With them companies can find out if employees have a new traffic violation or criminal record which might call for them to be disqualified from their job.

Real Estate Background Check Laws

Background check are common in the United States when it comes to real estate licensing process but the specific requirements vary from state to state.

For example, in Texas, the state requires that real estate agents must have fingerprints on file (Department of Safety) so that a background check can be conducted on them. They won’t receive a license until a background check has been passed.

Georgia on the other hand requires that a copy of the applicant’s criminal history must be submitted to the AMP testing center, before a license is issued. If there are any criminal convictions on the report by any licensing agency, then the Commission will perform an investigation whereby a decision would then be made whether to issue the license or not.

It is thus recommended that you consult with your state to find out the requirements on its real estate background check regulations. State agencies normally do not have up to date background check results or even take action on conviction with them, so it is wise to keep that in mind.

Companies or employers will need to run their own background check so as to be safe and make the right hiring decisions with accurate up to date data. Recommended real estate background check sites would be Good Hire, Background Checks and Backgrounds Online.

This is information that might be useful as you look to perform a real estate background check on a potential employee. One thing to keep in mind is that, these kinds of searches need to be thorough as they will be a deciding factor when it comes to moving or ruining your business. They call that caution be exercised.