Screening tenants is a process which any property manager has to carefully tread through and successfully complete. It is tough and as a property manager, you have to be thorough.
It all starts with an ad disseminated. You get calls and talk to interested and prospective tenants. You ask and they ask. This is the basics to screening tenants. “Why are you moving out of your old place?” “How much do I initially shell out before the commencement of occupancy?” “When are you planning to move in?” “What are your general house rules?” “Where do you work?” The call is relatively long and the questions pour in. They get some answers. You get an idea about them. These are determinants if an actual meeting is to take place.
Now, say you have a potential tenant who seems really interested and in need of a new residence. An appointment is then scheduled.
You may perhaps have a way of knowing through one call, in one look, who will make for a good tenant and who will make for an errant tenant. Sure, you are already a good property manager. That is for certain. Still, you may want to take the time to read through this short refresher guide for purposes of reviewing and screening tenants. Let us bring back out that property management dexterity you have always had in you.
Financial Capacities When Screening Tenants
Payment of rent, or the absence or delay thereof, is a very common cause of conflict ensuing between a property manager and a tenant.
Save yourself the trouble and make sure your would-be tenant will not cause you any unwarranted headaches. You should ensure that they have the financial stability and thus abilities to pay the monthly rent. They should have a long-term goal with their existing career or perhaps a stable business that they are running and are generating more than enough money to sustain their lifestyle.
There is more to these circumstances too. Being capable to pay should go hand in hand with being disciplined enough to take a little time off from their precious busy schedule to pay on time.
Because sometimes it is not about not having the money to pay, instead it may be a will issue and sheer laziness to keep stalling and making a deal with themselves, “I will pay tomorrow. It will be just one day late,” thinking it will not make much difference anyway. Screening tenants will help you to keep issues like this from occurring.
The potential new resident on your property whom you are screening must have the money and disposition to be cooperative and shell out that rent money when it is due. It is called responsibility and accountability. Add commitment and compliance to the ingredients of a good paying tenant too.
Housekeeping Skills and the Willingness to Constantly Apply These Skills
Untidiness is just another usual root of the conflict between the property manager and the occupant, and may even involve the neighboring residents.
Their genuine care for cleanliness is a reflection of what’s good about them. It speaks a great deal about any person for that matter.
No property manager would want to deal with an annoyed neighbor because your tenant does not comply with proper removal of trash. That is simply unmerited. Yet, another reason why screening tenants is a must.
If you are to hand the keys to your tenant of their newfound abode, set it forth how nice, neat, and very inhabitable it is. Set your expectations straight that the house should be kept that way during their entire stay under your management.
They are renting and so they will, at one point, leave. As a property manager, you deserve to feel assured that they will leave the place exactly the way it was handed over and entrusted to them. It is another angle to responsibility and accountability. Screening tenants will help keep you from difficult situations such as this.
A Law-Abiding Citizen
There is no way for you, as a property manager, to allow any kind of illegal activities to take place in the dwelling that is under your professional foster and care.
This is why screening tenants properly is crucial. Not only under the roof should your tenant not make illegal dealings, but they should also at all times be citizen/s who is/are just as respectful of your house rules as they are of the state laws.
You are good at assessing people and screening tenants. It goes with the job. But still, you are no clairvoyant. You need physical evidence, paper trails, right in your hands to know if a potential tenant indeed possesses all of the above features, and then some.
Whatever good happens, you will be commended. Whatever bad your tenant brings in, you will be held responsible and accountable just as well. Property management, is more than an occupation, is a responsibility, and a big one at that.
Follow the paper trail and keep it. Do the required credit and background checks. Check with his personal and professional references. You have to be picky, very picky. After all, you are entrusting a valued property to a stranger whom you only got to brush elbows with yesterday after one phone call.
Set your standards when screening tenants. Do not adjust to shorten the yardstick. You raise the bar. If you feel the need to turn down a prospective tenant because of well-founded reasons, say “No.” But do this with the utmost politeness. It will do you good in the long run. Do yourself a favor.
And no, it is not like saying that they have to be the perfect tenant. They just have to be compliant and responsible.