If you are a landlord, there is a good chance that at some point you have rented to a tenant that was less than desirable. This tenant probably caused problems for you and perhaps did the same for other tenants. How do you avoid making the same mistake again in the future? Is there a way to guarantee that you find quality tenants and avoid the bad ones? Well there are indeed steps you can take to ensure that you have a much better chance of finding the right tenants. These steps can make the rental process a lot easier for you and can save you the time and money that bad tenants can cost you.

The first step to getting quality tenants is to place an ad that essentially scares away bad tenants. Make sure you let potential tenants know that you keep a quiet place and that noisy types will not be tolerated. Landlords are allowed to do credit background checks, so mention that in the advertisement as well. Some seedy individuals will not even bother responding to your ad if they know you are going to run a background check on them. Likewise, a potential tenant that hasn\’t been responsible financially will have bad credit and will probably not even bother responding to your ad because of the credit check requirement. So as you can see, a well-worded ad can eliminate many bad tenants before you even start taking calls.

When people call about renting the apartment, you can take this screening step even further by letting them know that you require at least three months of stable employment that must be verified by providing pay stubs for the last three months. You can also require proof of a checking or savings account using the last three months of statements. This is also where you can state your minimum credit score requirement (if any) to rent your place. Again, these tactics are used to get responsible tenants and will scare away tenants that are not responsible.

You want to make sure potential tenants understand all of your demands before they fill out the application. This will save everybody time and aggravation. Don\’t be afraid to sound stern and have a no-nonsense attitude when dealing with potential tenants. Bad tenants tend to gravitate toward landlords they feel they can walk all over. Don\’t give off that kind of vibe. The point of these demands is to intimidate bad tenants so that they will go elsewhere.

Using the above steps will help you weed out bad tenants before even one application is filled out. They have worked for many a landlord that was sick and tired of losing valuable time and money due to bad tenants. By making your demands known from the beginning, and by making sure these demands are of the highest standards, you can ensure that you rent to only quality tenants. Decent tenants will not have any problems with your demands and will not feel intimidated at all.

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Category: Real Estate
Keywords: real estate, landlord, investment property, income property