Method and system for rapid tenant screening, lease recommendation, and automatic conversion/transcription of data into lease documents

• US 7,376,619 B1
• Filed: 12/28/2001
• Issued: 05/20/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 12/28/2001
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: RP On-Site LLC (RealPage Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: On-Site Manager Inc..
• Inventors: Jones, Scott A., Adams, Kevin W., Harrington, Jonathan T., Harrington, Thomas E.
• Primary Examiner(s): Trammell; James P.
• Assistant Examiner(s): SWARTZ, JAMIE H
• Application Number:
  US10/040,961
• Time in Patent Office: 2,335 Days
• Field of Search: 705/38, 705/1, 705/39, 705/10, 705/35, 703/2, 706/11, 715/530
• US Class Current: 705/38
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/00 Finance; Insurance; Tax strategies; Processing of corporate or income taxes
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/02 Banking, e.g. interest calculation or account maintenance credit or loans G06Q40/03
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/03 Credit; Loans; Processing thereof

Abstract

System, method, computer program and computer program product, and business model for rapid tenant screening, recommendation, and conversion of data to lease documents. Provides structure and method for entering data from application to rent real estate for rapidly acquiring credit and screening from servers for the prospective tenant, passing information through a computer program that evaluates financial criteria, and presenting decision whether or not to accept tenant. Manager enters information about property and terms of lease, and automatically converts tenant credit information into leasing for signatures that will serve as legal basis for tenancy. Lease and credit information are all stored on central computer, remotely accessible for both on-site and off-site management to view, and controlled by access security protocol. Tenant rent and lease information is automatically entered into tenant files, viewable remotely, so that there is a real-time view of tenant status for those with permission to access information.

Claims

1. A method for rapid tenant screening and lease recommendation, and conversion of data to lease documents, said method comprising:

acquiring tenant information including financial information;

acquiring property information;

generating a lease recommendation based on a plurality of acceptance criteria that are based on said tenant information and includes;

determining a value for each of said plurality of acceptance criteria;

determining a score for each of said plurality of acceptance criteria based on said value;

combining said scores into one composite score for a tenant by taking a weighted average of scores for said plurality of acceptance criteria according to the expression;

$y=\frac{\underset{i=1}{\overset{n}{\sum <br><br>}}<br><br>y_i<br><br>\left[2<br><br><br><br>p_i^2+{\left(y_i-7\right)}^2\right]}{\underset{i=1}{\overset{n}{\sum <br><br>}}<br><br>\left[2<br><br>p_i^2+{\left(y_i-7\right)}^2\right]}$

wherein i represents an index of said plurality of acceptance criteria, p_i represents an importance rating for each criteria, y_i represents a score for each acceptance criteria, and y represents said composite score; and

determining said recommendation based on said composite score; and

generating lease documents based on said tenant information and said property information.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein said tenant information comprises at least one of:

full legal name, social security number, previous address, spouse'"'"'s full name, dependents, employer name, employer address, and name of all dependents.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein said acquiring of said financial information comprises communicating with a credit reporting agency.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein said financial information comprises a raw credit report from said credit reporting agency.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein said method further comprises parsing said raw credit information into a readable scheme.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein said parsing comprises:

removing account numbers;

listing positive and negative ratings, amounts outstanding, and estimates of payments; and

performing a social security scan for validity.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein said property information comprises a name of a property, a unit number and address, and unit policies.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein determining said recommendation based on said composite score, further comprises:

generating an acceptance recommendation for a tenant having a composite score greater than a predetermined high score;

generating a rejection recommendation for a tenant having a composite score lower than a predetermined low score; and

generating a marginally qualified recommendation for a tenant having a composite score between a predetermined low score and a predetermined high score.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein said plurality of acceptance criteria comprise:

a ratio of monthly gross income to rent;

a minimum monthly gross income less rent and estimated debt payments;

maximum percentage of credit accounts with late payments;

maximum amount of unpaid collections;

bankruptcy history; and

previous tenant history.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein determining a score for at least one of said plurality of acceptance criteria comprises scaling said value according to a mathematical function.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein said mathematical function comprises a relationship of the form:

$y=\left\{k<br><br><br><br>1+\frac{k<br><br><br><br>2}{\left[1+{b<br><br>\left(x-c\right)}^2\right]}\right\}<br><br>\left[1-\frac{k<br><br><br><br>3}{1+e^{a<br><br>\left(x-c\right)}}\right]$

wherein y represents the score for one of said plurality of acceptance criteria, x is said value for said criterion, c is the standard selected for said criterion, a and b are constants for scaling the value of said criterion to a standard level, k1 is a constant set to the maximum resulting score, k2 is a constant set to control the inflection point of the resulting curve, and k3 is a constant set to control the lowest score.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein said lease documents comprise a lease, disclosures about said property, rules, policies, local ordinances, or other agreements.

13. A system for performing rapid tenant screening and lease recommendation, and conversion of data to lease documents, said method comprising:

means for acquiring tenant information including financial information;

means for acquiring property information;

means for generating a lease recommendation based on a plurality of acceptance criteria that are based on said tenant information and includes;

determining a value for each of said plurality of acceptance criteria;

determining a score for each of said plurality of acceptance criteria based on said value;

combining said scores into one composite score for a tenant by taking a weighted average of scores for said plurality of acceptance criteria according to the expression;

$y=\frac{\underset{i=1}{\overset{n}{\sum <br><br>}}<br><br>y_i<br><br>\left[2<br><br><br><br>p_i^2+{\left(y_i-7\right)}^2\right]}{\underset{i=1}{\overset{n}{\sum <br><br>}}<br><br>\left[2<br><br>p_i^2+{\left(y_i-7\right)}^2\right]}$

wherein i represents an index of said plurality of acceptance criteria, p_i represents an importance rating for each acceptance criteria, y_i represents a score for each acceptance criteria, and y represents said composite score; and

determining said recommendation based on said composite score; and

means for generating lease documents based on said tenant information and said property information.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein said means for generating comprises a computer of the type having a processor, a memory coupled to the processor, a computer program including instructions executable in said processor to perform the generation operation.

15. The system of claim 13, wherein said means for acquiring said tenant information further comprises means for communicating with a credit bureau.

22. The system of claim 13, wherein determining a score for at least one of said plurality of acceptance criteria comprises scaling said value according to a mathematical function.

23. The system of claim 22, wherein said mathematical function comprises a relationship of the form:

$y=\left\{k<br><br><br><br>1+\frac{k<br><br><br><br>2}{\left[1+{b<br><br>\left(x-c\right)}^2\right]}\right\}<br><br>\left[1-\frac{k<br><br><br><br>3}{1+e^{a<br><br>\left(x-c\right)}}\right]$

wherein y represents the score for one of said plurality of criteria, x is said value for said criterion, c is the standard selected for said criterion, a and b are constants for scaling the value of said criterion to a standard level, k1 is a constant set to the maximum resulting score, k2 is a constant set to control the inflection point of the resulting curve, and k3 is a constant set to control the lowest score.

16. A computer program product for use in conjunction with a computer system, the computer program product comprising a computer readable storage medium and a computer program mechanism embedded therein, the computer program mechanism comprising:

a program module that directs a computer processor to function in a specified manner, said manner comprising;

performing a credit check on an applicant;

generating a recommendation and report for said applicant including;

determining a value for each of said plurality of acceptance criteria;

determining a score for each of said plurality of acceptance criteria based on said value;

combining said scores into one composite score for a tenant by taking a weighted average of scores for said plurality of acceptance criteria according to the expression;

$y=\frac{\underset{i=1}{\overset{n}{\sum <br><br>}}<br><br>y_i<br><br>\left[2<br><br><br><br>p_i^2+{\left(y_i-7\right)}^2\right]}{\underset{i=1}{\overset{n}{\sum <br><br>}}<br><br>\left[2<br><br>p_i^2+{\left(y_i-7\right)}^2\right]}$

wherein i represents an index of said plurality of acceptance criteria, p_i represents an importance rating for each acceptance criteria, y_i represents a score for each acceptance criteria, and y represents said composite score; and

determining said recommendation based on said composite score; and

generating lease documents for said applicant.

17. The computer program product of claim 16 further comprising a capability to set permissions such that a specified user is able to approve said applicant before accessing said generated lease documents.

18. The computer program product of claim 17 further comprising a capability to set permission such that a user may only approve said applicant after the applicant has been recommended by the computer program product.

19. The computer program product of claim 16, wherein determining a score for at least one of said plurality of criteria comprises scaling said value according to a mathematical function.

20. The computer program product of claim 19, wherein said mathematical function comprises a relationship of the form:

$y=\left\{k<br><br><br><br>1+\frac{k<br><br><br><br>2}{\left[1+{b<br><br>\left(x-c\right)}^2\right]}\right\}<br><br>\left[1-\frac{k<br><br><br><br>3}{1+e^{a<br><br>\left(x-c\right)}}\right]$

wherein y represents the score for one of said plurality of criteria, x is said value for said criterion, c is the standard selected for said criterion, a and b are constants for scaling the value of said criterion to a standard level, k1 is a constant set to the maximum resulting score, k2 is a constant set to control the inflection point of the resulting curve, and k3 is a constant set to control the lowest score.

21. A method for rapid tenant screening and lease recommendation, and conversion of data to lease documents, said method comprising:

acquiring tenant information including financial information;

acquiring property information;

generating a lease recommendation based on a plurality of acceptance criteria that are based on said tenant information and includes;

determining a value for each of said plurality of acceptance criteria;

determining a score for each of said plurality of acceptance criteria based on said value by scaling said value according to a mathematical function comprising a relationship of the form;

$y=\left\{k<br><br><br><br>1+\frac{k<br><br><br><br>2}{\left[1+{b<br><br>\left(x-c\right)}^2\right]}\right\}<br><br>\left[1-\frac{k<br><br><br><br>3}{1+e^{a<br><br>\left(x-c\right)}}\right]$

wherein y represents the score for one of said plurality of acceptance criteria, x is said value for said criterion, c is the standard selected for said criterion, a and b are constants for scaling the value of said criterion to a standard level, k1 is a constant set to the maximum resulting score, k2 is a constant set to control the inflection point of the resulting curve, and k3 is a constant set to control the lowest score;

combining said scores into one composite score for a tenant; and

determining said recommendation based on said composite score; and

generating lease documents based on said tenant information and said property information.

24. A method for rapid tenant screening and lease recommendation, and conversion of data to lease documents, said method comprising:

acquiring tenant information that includes financial information for each of two roommates;

acquiring property information;

generating a lease recommendation for the two roommates based on a plurality of acceptance criteria that are based on said tenant information and includes;

determining a value for each of said plurality of acceptance criteria for each roommate;

determining a score for each of said plurality of acceptance criteria based on said value for each roommate;

combining said scores into one composite score for each roommate; and

determining said recommendation for the two roommates based on said composite scores; and

generating lease documents based on said tenant information and said property information.

25. The method of claim 24, wherein determining a value for each of said plurality of acceptance criteria comprises a rent sharing criteria.

26. The method of claim 25, wherein said rent sharing criteria requires that each roommate is responsible for an equal share of the rent plus a predetermined additional percentage of the rent.

27. The method of claim 24, wherein determining said recommendation based on said composite scores for each roommate further comprises combining the composite scores into a single overall score.

28. A method for rapid tenant screening and lease recommendation, and conversion of data to lease documents, said method comprising:

acquiring tenant information including acquiring financial information by communicating with a credit reporting agency, wherein the financial information comprises a raw credit report;

acquiring property information;

generating a lease recommendation based on a plurality of acceptance criteria that are based on said tenant information and includes;

determining a value for each of said plurality of acceptance criteria;

determining a score for each of said plurality of acceptance criteria based on said value;

combining said scores into one composite score for a tenant by taking a weighted average of scores for said plurality of acceptance criteria according to the expression;

$y=\frac{\underset{i=1}{\overset{n}{\sum <br><br>}}<br><br>y_i<br><br>\left[2<br><br><br><br>p_i^2+{\left(y_i-c\right)}^2\right]}{\underset{i=1}{\overset{n}{\sum <br><br>}}<br><br>\left[2<br><br>p_i^2+{\left(y_i-c\right)}^2\right]}$

wherein i represents an index of said plurality of acceptance criteria, p_i represents an importance rating for each criteria, y_i represents a score for each acceptance criteria, c represents a constant value for a minimum requirement, and y represents said composite score; and

determining said recommendation based on said composite score; and

generating lease documents based on said tenant information and said property information.