Tenant screening tips for your rental.
Aaronrobertson
Finding the best tenant – Tenant screening a must!
Background check, screen your prospective tenant.
Some Property owners or Landlords fail to do any tenant screening. One of the most important decisions you make as a Property Owner/Landlord is who you let rent your property. Property Owners/Landlords meet the prospective tenant and their family and decide based on their feelings and do no tenant screening. People will tell you a good story, everyone has one. Doing your due diligence when it comes to tenant screening is protecting your investment. It is the difference of having a tenant you can work with or a tenant you may have to Evict. Tenant Screening is not personal, it is doing good business. When you buy a car, the car dealership screens you. Your payment history, how much you are extended or not extended. They don’t just hand you the keys and say “I think you are a good person.” Tenant Screening is important, it tells you a lot about the prospective tenant. Tenant Screening fills in the holes that their story may have, maybe you might ask some additional questions to clarify some concerns. I cannot emphasize it enough SCREEN, SCREEN, SCREEN!
Some recommendations I would make when tenant screening are:
- No prior evictions.
- Check criminal history – No violent crimes or recent felonies.\
- Check employment.
- Check previous rental history – pay attention to the items the previous landlord is not saying.
- You should have an income requirement – three times the rent is standard in the industry.
The Condition of your property, tenants will match
your care.
How you take care of your property says a lot to prospective tenants. If you are trying to rent out a house that needs paint, has pet odor, overgrown yard, you are going to appeal to desperate perspective tenants, willing to take and live anywhere.
It is a risk on how they will treat your property or if they pay their rent consistently.
Finding a good tenant is hard enough, but finding a good tenant that will respect your property is difficult if you don’t respect your property.
Keep up with your Maintenance, helps keep your tenant.
Most tenants will move out of properties with a lot of maintenance issues, even more so if the owner is slow on repairs. If you want to keep a tenant then provide the maintenance. Don’t be the landlord that just collects the rent and never gets anything done.
Build a list of after-hour vendors you can call for emergencies. Most things can wait until the next day, but there are those late night calls where the toilet is flooding the bathroom, or the water heater has sprung a leak. Creating a list of trusted vendors that you have built relationships with, provides for consistent work on your property, quicker response and a happy tenant.
Being maintenance conscience does not mean that you should fix everything the tenant reports, nor does it mean not charging the tenant for the damage they are responsible for. But I do believe you need to make maintenance a priority and not ignore it, if you want to keep good tenants for a lengthy period of time.
Remember the idea is to rent your property and keep it rented. If you do the proper tenant screening and maintain a good property, you will be in a position to make money. If you put just anyone in your property, you may be spending a lot of time trying to collect your rent or cleaning up a trashed property.
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Disclaimer: The content on this blog is for informational purposes only and is not intended as legal or advice. Consult with a qualified professional for specific advice.
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