A Property Manager’s Tips For Choosing Your Tenants
As a property manager, you need to know who is living in your apartments. Certainly, you don’t want to choose tenants who don’t pay rent or cost you a lot of money when it comes to repairs.
If you don’t want to suffer from headaches because of undisciplined tenants, you can hire a property management company like Bluestone Property Management and Sales to do the job for you.
Nevertheless, here are some of the best tips to consider when choosing your tenants:
1. Follow The Law
As a property manager, you need to follow the law when choosing your tenants. Make sure you follow the Federal Fair Housing Act when choosing tenants. Here, you are not allowed to discriminate against tenants based on national origin, race, religion, colour, sex, disability or familial status. Check if there are any local laws applicable when choosing tenants to avoid being on the wrong side of things.
2. Good Credit
Make sure you choose tenants who are financially responsible. That way, you don’t have to worry about any missing payments. You can ask for a credit records for potential tenants and check whether or not they have been paying their bills on time. Here, there are a few things to consider.
- Check The Income – An ideal tenant should have a monthly income that’s at least 3 times the monthly rent. Ask for copies of their pay stubs. Also, you should contact the employer directly to confirm the employment, attendance record, length of employment and their monthly earnings.
- Run A Credit Check – Here, you should confirm whether your potential tenants pay their bills on time. Also, you need to check their income to debt ratio. Check whether they have any prior convictions, history of bankruptcies or civil judgments on their records.
3. Criminal Background Check
Criminal information is available on public records and you can check from any court house. You should be able to find out whether your potential tenants have any serious or minor criminal offences. Ask for the tenants full name and date of birth to confirm their criminal background check. If there is a criminal living in one of your apartments, it might taint the history of the place.
4. Rental History
You should talk to at least 2 of the tenant’s previous landlords. If the potential tenant was problematic, you want to get them out of your hands before things escalate. Here, you should check the following:
- Whether the tenant paid their rent on time
- Why did they move from their previous apartment? Did they refuse to pay rent or did they break the rules of the lease?
- Did the tenant give out 30 days’ notice before moving?
- Did they keep the apartment clean at all times?
- Were there any complaints coming from the tenant?
Answering all these questions should help you find the best tenant for your apartments.
5. Stable Tenants
Find out whether the applicant is stable. You can check their prior addresses and their employment history. For instance, do they switch jobs a lot? If so, are they likely going to move soon leaving the house empty? If they don’t have consistent employment, can they afford to pay the rent? Certainly, you don’t want to be dealing with an eviction sooner than needed.
In conclusion, it takes a lot of research to find the best tenants for your apartments!
