How to Find the Best Tenant for Your Rental Property
If you’re a real estate investor, you know that the key to success is finding great a tenant who will pay rent on time and take care of your properties.
Finding the right tenants can be difficult, especially if you are working with a limited pool of candidates. However, there are a variety of tenant selection procedures that can help you find the best tenants for your properties. Here is an overview of some tenant selection techniques that you can use to find great tenants:
Run a background check
A background check can help you make sure that you are only renting to responsible tenants. You can use a tenant screening service to obtain a tenant’s criminal history, employment history, credit report, and rental history. This information can help you identify potential problems that you might not have noticed when interviewing a tenant. A background check can help you avoid renting to tenants who have a history of not paying their rent, have a serious criminal record, or have been involved in property damages.
Ask for rental application and credit information
When you have a group of potential tenants available for interviews, ask each of them for a rental application. A rental application is a document that lets you collect important information about each tenant, such as employment information, rental history, and references. You can also ask a tenant to provide you with their credit report as part of the application process. A credit report will show you a tenant’s payment history on bills such as utilities, car payments, and credit cards. This information can help you determine whether a tenant will pay their rent on time and avoid other problems.
Perform an eviction check
An eviction check can help you identify tenants who have been involved in property damage or who have been sued by a landlord to regain possession of a rental property. You can also use an eviction check to identify tenants who have a history of not paying their rent. These tenants might be good candidates for your properties. However, you will have to have a plan in place to help them catch up on their payments.
Have a pre-screening interview
Instead of having a group of tenants interview with you, have a group of potential tenants interview with you. In a pre-screening interview, you ask potential tenants questions, such as their rental history, employment status, and rental payment history. You can also ask potential tenants about their plans for the property. The pre-screening process gives you a good idea of who would be a good fit for your rentals.
Walk through the property with potential tenants
You can use a walk-through of the rental property to identify potential problems and to identify tenants who will take care of your rental property. As you walk through the property with potential tenants, look for signs of maintenance issues, such as loose floorboards and broken light fixtures.
Summing up
Tenant selection is an important part of being a successful real estate investor. When you choose the right tenants for your properties, you can be confident that they will pay their rent on time and take good care of your rental homes. There are a variety of tenant selection procedures that can help you find great tenants. These include running a background check, asking for Central Valley rental application and credit information, performing an eviction check, having a pre-screening interview, and walking through the property with potential tenants.
Contact Us
At RPM Central Valley, we specialize in property management for the Central Valley area. To learn more about the services we can offer you, contact us today at (209) 572-2222 or click here to connect with us online.