How to Choose the Right Tenant for Your Rental Property

tenant selection rental property Salinas

Being a landlord comes with various responsibilities. The most important consideration is to ensure you have valuable tenants in your rental property.

However, obtaining tenants isn’t an easy task. You want to do due diligence to ensure you get the right tenants for your rental real estate. Here are tips to help you choose the right tenants for your rental property.

Check their Credit Score

Analyzing your potential client’s credit history will help you know the kind of person you’re about to admit into your property.

A tenant with a higher score is an excellent person to allow in your rental property. It shows that a tenant is a responsible person who will pay rent and other bills on time. Such tenants can also take good care of your property, and this will help you avoid damages.

The tenant will have to pay a small fee to get the credit score report. Ideally, you want to analyze the credit report and find out if the tenant has outstanding debts and the payment history of various items.

Observe Potential Tenant’s Behavior

At the property showing, you should carefully observe how your potential tenant behaves. This is the best time to tell if the person is a good match for your property.

Whether the property showing is virtual or physical, you need to pay close attention to the tenant when talking and giving gestures.

First, determine whether the tenants shows up on time for the show, behave politely, and if they are respectful of your property. Here are several things to question a potential tenant:

  • Reasons for moving
  • The desired moving date
  • Willingness to give current landlord’s contacts
  • Ask whether he/she smokes, has pets and/or roommates

Ensure your tenant selection is professional and straightforward to get quality feedback and make informed decisions. If the tenant shows up late, is rude, disrespectful, or refuses to fill the rental application form, then forget about the person and move on to the next. However, if you do not see any red flags, allow the person in.

Conduct a Criminal Background Check

With the current increase in crime rates, performing a thorough criminal background check for the tenant is imperative. You want to know if the person has a clean record.

Allowing a tenant with criminal records can be risky to you, other tenants, and your property. You can obtain criminal information from various courthouses and check for both serious and minor offenses that the person might have committed in the past.

Ask the tenant to give you his/her name and date of birth to check the criminal history. Remember, some people will try to provide false information, so you need to use valid details to check the criminal record.

Analyze the Tenants Rental History

Another way to know the tenant’s character is by checking the previous rental history. If possible, ask the tenant for the previous landlord’s contact. Call the landlord and inquire about the tenant’s overall behavior.

Find out if the tenant paid rent on time, took care of the property well, and maintained peace with other tenants. If the person was troublesome, then do not move forward with the tenant. Such tenants are a threat, and you may never have peace if you admit them to your rental property. Here are a few questions you might ask the previous landlord:

  • Does the tenant pay rent on time?
  • Did he/she keep the rental property in good condition?
  • Was he/she respectful to you and other tenants?
  • Does the person keep a clean environment?
  • Did he/she give a 30-day notice before moving?
  • Did you incur any damages caused by the tenant?
  • Did you evict the tenant? If yes, what were the reasons for eviction?

Please pay close attention as you get the answers and determine whether the person is worth it. Remember, if the person is a first-time renter, a student, or a recent graduate, you should not expect a rental history since they’re just starting life.

Choose a Stable Tenant for Your Rental Property

As a landlord, you expect timely rent payment from your tenants. This is only possible if you have responsible people in your rental property. In this case, it is imperative to choose a financially stable tenant who can pay rent and other bills on time.

To be sure of this, contact the tenant’s employer to determine how much the person earns. Since the tenant will fill the form with the current and previous employment history, you can obtain much information from the form.

Find out if the tenant keeps switching jobs. If this is the trend, then be sure that the person will likely not stay at your property for long. You can avoid letting in such people because it will take you back and start looking for another tenant earlier.

If the person has not shown consistent employment, you might experience rent payment issues in the long run. So, it’d be best to avoid them.

Know Details of Rental Application

Knowing what the rental application entails will make your tenant selection seamless. The application gives much information about the tenant’s employment history, contact details, and employer contacts.

Once the tenant fills the form, you can obtain much information needed and make informed decisions whether to let the person into your rental property or not.

You may want to know the tenant’s history of eviction, a conviction of a felony, bankruptcy, and smoking and rent payment habits in the rental application.

Trust Your Instincts

While all the above tips are crucial to consider when selecting the right tenant for your rental property, you should also learn to trust your instincts. If you do not feel comfortable after doing due diligence, trust your instincts, cut off the deal, and move to the next tenant.

Sometimes, things may look good on paper, but you later discover that the tenant was the opposite of what you thought they are. That is why you should never go ahead if you are not at peace.

Hire a Professional Property Manager

Using the tips above can help you identify the right tenant seamlessly. Once you find the tenant, monitor your property closely and ensure it stays in good condition. You may want to work with a Salinas property property manager. Property management companies can take good care of your apartment. This gives you peace of mind knowing your property is under excellent property management services worth a bang for your buck.