The Best Ways to Find High-Quality Tenants | brokeGIRLrich
A tenant can make or break a real estate business and if you’ve made the foray into renting out personal property, you’re constantly reminded of the threat of a terror tenant, which comes with costly repairs, eviction issues, and legal troubles. There’s no guaranteed way to find perfect tenants, but there are many things you can do to improve your chances of landing yourself the dream renter. Attract the best candidates in today’s competitive rental market by following these tips.
Your Advertising Efforts
If you want to reach the widest audience of rental candidates, you need to market your property strategically. Beyond posting on sites like Craigslist, utilize legitimate rental services like LiveLovely.com, Hotpads.com, and ApartmentFinder.com. When it comes time to create your listing, it’s important to take high-quality photos of your space with the right lighting and the proper photography equipment—shots taken on your iPhone aren’t going to be the selling point on your listing, and high-quality tenants expect more. Advertising well means great timing; advertising more than 6 weeks before the apartment is move-in ready is too soon, while waiting until the last few weeks before vacancy could see you scrambling and settling on a less than satisfactory tenant. When it comes down to what you should include in your listing, remember the Golden Rule: the more, the better. Include price, room specifics, list local amenities, and do your research on the keywords that will attract attention and bring more viewers to your listing.
The Right Screening Processes
Tenant screening is inarguably the most important step of securing the right renter for your rental property. You may have met a charming couple that seems to hit all the right boxes, but remember that everything isn’t always what it seems. Use a certified screening company to make sure your would-be tenants are exactly who they seem to be, with something like tenant and background checks by SmartMove. Not only do you get an inside look at your rental candidates’ credit scores, but you can also access criminal histories and any past evictions they might have on their housing record. Do your own due diligence when it comes to screening. Require references and take the time to call them. Talking to your tenant’s previous landlord is going to be your best insight into how they’ll act while living in your space.
Step Up Your Curb Appeal
When you begin to show your property, you’ll want it to look impeccable to the discerning eyes of quality tenants. It’s a renter’s market out there, and more often than not potential renters will be looking at a bevy of properties before deciding on one, so do what you can to impress any visitors by improving the property’s curb appeal. Perform any repairs that need doing before even listing your space, as prospective tenants will often drive by the property before setting up an appointment to view the insides. Do any landscaping or have a natural lawn service come and spruce up the front and back yard before showing the home, as well. Remember, the more improvements and updates you make to your space, the more reason you have to charge higher rent rates and find tenants will to pay higher prices.
Amp Up the Competition
You might feel that individual showing appointments will allow you to better sell your space to prospective tenants, but it actually might be in your best interest to instead schedule all of your appointments for similar time slots. Competition can drive up rates and make your apartment or home seem more desirable; if individuals see that many others are interested in a particular space, they’ll be more enticed to acquire it for themselves. It’s human nature, and you can use it to your advantage. If you feel you’ll need help running interference and handling any questions that come up during the showing, have your spouse or a friend come along and show guests around while you deal with the details for truly interested candidates.
Finding the right tenant can be a harrowing challenge, but if you go into the process armed with these tips and a bit of patience, you can better your chances of finding the perfect long-term, high-quality tenant.
One thing to remember is that once you have a good tenant, you may have to bend a little to keep them. We have some college kids renting our townhouse. They are 3 terrific young women, and they keep the place nice, but only one of them will be in town over the summer. We’re letting her just pay her third of the rent (and keep up the utilities) for June and July, because we’d much rather they all stay for another year than make them feel they needed to make new arrangements.
Emily @ JohnJaneDoe recently posted…The Cost of the Sick Kid
That makes sense! And you guys are terrific landlords! I always had to pay for the summers, even when I wasn’t there in college. Deals like that absolutely would’ve kept me in the same place the whole time.
Great suggestions! We had to evict a terrible renter before and won’t make the same mistake twice. We’ve also had great renters too and now have the experience to make sure we properly screen tenants and get references. Our best renters have been military families, because they get a housing stipends (no issues with them being able to afford the rent), they generally have 3 year contracts and they have stable employment. Our past issues with renting have made me question whether I want to buy more rental properties, but a good renter is what makes all the difference in whether it’s a good investment.
Kathryn @ Making Your Money Matter recently posted…A Stable Financial Foundation
Looking into a rental property is absolutely on my radar if I ever manage to settle down in one spot.
And definitely have written standards you adhere to when screening all tenants. Don’t want to get sued for an equal housing violation. The damages allowed can be incredibly high (I recall treble, but don’t quote me).
ZJ Thorne recently posted…My IRA Does Not Understand My Heart’s Goal
This is a really awesome post! You list some very excellent steps here that both help explain why it’s so important to find the right tenant to occupy your property and how to go about finding just the right one. Nicely done! Thanks so much for sharing!
I think that doing a background check on any potential tenants is a great idea if you’re renting out some real estate. I’ve heard horror stories of renters whose properties have been absolutely destroyed by tenants who didn’t take proper care of their living space. Double checking that any potential tenants will be able to pay rent and that they don’t pose any obvious threats to your property (like smoking or messy pets) should help protect your real estate investment from harm.
Advertise on at least a few free sites, like CraigsList.org and Lycos.com (but beware of the spam and scam attempts that inevitably ensue). But consider paying for ads, too. You’re not selling a used toaster, or even a used guitar, here. You’re trying to find a high-quality tenant to live in your house! Moreover, that tenant will be paying you $3.30 per day for every $100 in monthly rent you charge ($16+ per day for $500 per month, $33+ per day for $1000, etc.).
People often underestimate the impact curb appeal can have on a property. Great Read. Thanks for Sharing. Being a landlord myself, I can actually use these tips. Thank You
Sodding Hamilton recently posted…Smart Irrigation Saves Money!
Awesome Post. I can completely relate to this being a landlord myself. People often forget that the quality of the tenant is extremely crucial. The worst situation is when you let it out and they start giving you unnecessary problems and headaches. I would not wish that for any landlord. Thanks for Sharing!
I think proper verification is also a must these days, particularly if the tenants are outsiders. In addition to recommendations, their identity proofs and all the details they feed-in the application should accurately be verified before giving them the house.
Thanks for the informative article.
Jessie P. Robinson recently posted…Will Interest Rates Rise in 2017
Thank you for so many great suggestions. My grandpa often faces a lot of challenges when renting out his townhouse. I’ll share this article with him. I think background checks and securing legal documents is crucial, some things I don’t ever let my grandpa neglect.
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