The Best of Both Worlds: Emerging Tenant Screening Trends and Smarter Solutions

Published

Aug 04, 2026

You are reviewing an application in your system. The report looks clean, everything checks out, and you are seconds away from making a decision.

Then you hesitate.

You open your browser and do a quick DIY search. Now you are seeing different information, some of it unclear, some of it questionable. Suddenly, what felt like a straightforward decision turns into a judgment call. What is accurate? What is compliant? What should you actually rely on?

Those questions were at the center of our recent  Best of Both Worlds: Emerging Tenant Screening Trends and Smarter Solutions  webinar. During the discussion, Asurint's Ryan Green, VP of Tenant Screening, Vince Pascarella, General Counsel, and Rachel Scagnetti, Director of Product, shared their perspectives on trends reshaping tenant screening, from increasing compliance complexity to evolving data quality expectations and new approaches to screening technology.

Here is what we see across the market and what it means going forward. Watch the full webinar on demand to hear their complete insights.

Trend #1: The Rise of the “Google Detective”

When information is only a few clicks away, it's easy to understand why people want to do a little extra “research.” We've seen a growing number of users supplement professional screening reports with their own Google, social media, or public record website searches, in an effort to get a more complete picture of an applicant. The intention is understandable. After all, more information should lead to better decisions, right?

As Ryan explained, "We have more access to information than we have ever had before in human history. What's happening is that end users are actually undermining what the product is intended to do for them, and they don't realize that they're doing that."

The challenge is that publicly available information isn't always accurate, current, or appropriate to use in a screening decision.

Online searches or using non-FCRA products can surface:

• Inaccurate or incomplete information
• Expunged or sealed records
• Dismissed cases
• Outdated information
• Records belonging to someone with a similar name

Ryan also cautioned that many users are unknowingly relying on information that was never intended for screening decisions: “They’re getting results that include expungements, dismissed records, sunset records, juvenile records, and all sorts of other things that can create risk when used in a decision."

Without proper verification, it's surprisingly easy to draw conclusions based on information that shouldn't be considered at all.

In many cases, the issue isn't bad judgment. It's a lack of awareness. Most employers or property managers don't realize they're stepping outside established screening processes or introducing unnecessary compliance risk. As access to information continues to grow, organizations have an opportunity to provide stronger guidance, clearer policies, and trusted tools that help users separate useful information from risky information.

Explore this further in our  Hidden Crisis in Public Records blog.

Trend #2: “Less Is More” in a Regulated World