How to start a Tenant Screening That Looks Beyond Debt-to-Income business: plan and growth
An applicant earns $65,000 (enough on paper) but has $55,000+ in delinquent debt and a 561 credit score. The '30% of income' rule doesn't capture real risk.
An owner can start “Tenant Screening That Looks Beyond Debt-to-Income” from a complaint people already posted. The offer, in one line: One risk score combining income, debt load, job stability and references for small landlords. It is for landlords and property managers. Charge a fee on each transaction, and test a price between $10 and $49 a month. Begin in the United States. Buyers already talk about this in r/realestateinvesting. One thread gathered 22 votes and 100 replies across Sep 14, 2026 – Oct 14, 2026. Use that room to meet the first twenty buyers. Do not export it, and do not republish the posts. The idea, the evidence, and the market estimate on this page are free to read. Two paid prompts finish the job: one drafts the offer, the price, and a ninety-day calendar; the other drafts a month of conversations and proof. One credit unlocks both. A software specification is not on this site. When the company is the product itself, a single link further down opens the founder library.
Tenant applicant has debt but her salary is more…r/realestateinvesting · Sep 14, 2026 – Oct 14, 2026 · 22 votes · 100 replies · Open the thread
Who would pay
Landlords and property managers. Start in the United States, and charge a fee on each transaction, testing a price between $10 and $49 a month.
The thread above is the public complaint this business can learn from. Verbatim quotes are not invented. Further sources, when a later report adds them, stay with the evidence.
What buyers use today
- TransUnion SmartMove
- RentPrep
- Zillow screening
The offer, in our words
A tenant scoring tool for small landlords combining income, debt load, employment stability and references into one more accurate risk score than DTI or credit alone.
Score 3.25, Warm. Pain, willingness to pay, demand, and the gap in current options drive it. We are not scoring how fast you can code.
Market size
An estimate, built from the bottom up: real customer counts × a realistic price. It shows the size of the prize, not a forecast.
TAM Total addressable
$160M a year
4M screenings · 30% of US rental properties owned by individual landlords
SAM Serviceable
$32M a year
800,000 screenings · independent landlords online
SOM Obtainable in 3 years
$320K a year
8,000 screenings · 1% of the reachable segment in three years
What that means
8,000 screenings a year × ~$40 = $320K a year in revenue
Medium confidence · estimated Oct 2026
How we estimated this
- Base: 13,500,000 US rental properties owned by individual landlords.
- Has the problem: 30% (assume 30% of properties turn over in a year).
- Revenue per screening: $40 per year ($40 per screening).
- Reachable: 20% (independent landlords online).
- Three-year capture: 1% of the reachable segment.
TAM is customers with the problem × revenue per customer. SAM is the part a new business can reach. SOM is a cautious three-year share of SAM. The bars use a log scale. A share marked “assume” is our judgment, not a measurement.
Source: Census/HUD Rental Housing Finance Survey 2021: 70.2% of 19.3M properties
The business-plan prompt
The offer, the price, and a ninety-day calendar, written for an agent. 1 credit unlocks both prompts for this idea: this plan and the growth playbook below.
# Business plan prompt: Tenant Screening That Looks Beyond Debt-to-Income You are writing a practical plan for one owner who will sell this as a business. Do not write a software specification, a venture memo, or a feature list. Use short sentences. Where a number is unknown, give a range and say what to measure. ## The business Working name: Tenant Screening That Looks Beyond Debt-to-Income What the customer gets: One risk score combining income, debt load, job stability and references for small landlords. Who pays: Landlords and property managers
Locked · the first lines are above
Unlock both prompts for this idea · 1 credit ($9.99)
One credit opens the business plan and the growth playbook together, for good. Credits work on both businessideastobuild.com and realstartupideas.com.
Sign in once with your Real Startup Ideas account; the same credits work on both sites.
The growth playbook
Thirty weekdays of conversations and proof. Not an ad plan. Included with the plan above, on the same credit.
# Growth prompt: Tenant Screening That Looks Beyond Debt-to-Income You are planning thirty days of distribution for a business that already has an offer. The offer: One risk score combining income, debt load, job stability and references for small landlords. The buyer: landlords and property managers. Price band: between $10 and $49 a month. Do not propose ads, a viral loop, or a rebrand. Propose conversations, proof, and a repeatable weekly rhythm. ## Starting point A public thread in r/realestateinvesting drew 22 votes and 100 replies. The pain, in the owner's words: An applicant earns $65,000 (enough on paper) but has $55,000+ in delinquent debt and a 561 credit score. The '30% of income' rule doesn't capture real risk.
Locked · the first lines are above
Unlock both prompts for this idea · 1 credit ($9.99)
One credit opens the business plan and the growth playbook together, for good. Credits work on both businessideastobuild.com and realstartupideas.com.
Sign in once with your Real Startup Ideas account; the same credits work on both sites.
Questions
How much money do I need to start?
Enough to talk to buyers and deliver the offer once. A service version can start with a written process and a way to take payment. A software version is a larger bet and is not required to test the price. The band to test is $10–49 a month.
How should I price it?
Test a price between $10 and $49 a month, charged as a fee on each transaction. Raise it after three paid pilots, not before the first conversation.
Where do the first customers come from?
r/realestateinvesting is the clue. A related thread gathered 22 votes and 100 replies. Show up there, follow the room's rules, and ask for conversations. Do not scrape it.
Do I need to write code?
No. The prompts on this page draft a plan and a month of growth. Code is a later choice. The founder site linked once below is where the build document lives, if you want it.
A separate site sells the agent build document and can build the product. Get the build PRD
A two-week build starts at $10,000 on that site, after a $1,000 scoping fee.
Plans and growth playbooks
One credit opens both prompts for this business.
The idea, the evidence, and the market estimate stay free. The business plan and the thirty-day growth playbook for Tenant Screening That Looks Beyond Debt-to-Income cost one credit, together, and stay unlocked.
Credits work on both businessideastobuild.com and realstartupideas.com. Sign in once with your Real Startup Ideas account; it is the same wallet.