What makes a great tenant?

You will be meeting a lot of different tenants as you go through your business. Some tenants will make your life as a landlord a breeze while others will make it hard for you.

Taking the time to find a great tenant for your rental property can help protect your investment and help it grow. Here are 5 tips for placing a tenant in your rental.

Tips for placing a tenant in your rental

• You need to understand the laws:

Find out the appropriate federal and state laws that cover landlords and tenants. Start with the Fair Housing Act and get a clear outline on what constitutes illegal discrimination against qualified tenants. Read how you can base credit or criminal history but never on race, religion, national origin, gender, age or family status.

• Formalize it by creating a rental application form:

This is the kind of document to collect personal information about your applicant so it will be easier for you to perform background checks later on. You should know the following details:

Name/names of applicants

SSN

Previous addresses

Driver’s license numbers

Income sources and amounts

Children’s names and ages

Number of pets and their breeds (if available)

Employer contacts and job title

References (other than family)

Avoid Interviews

• Believe it or not, experts actually say no to interviews. We’ve been used to holding interviews for prospective clients but this alone is opening you up for possible Fair Housing lawsuits. The way people act in person or dress doesn’t tell you how they could perform in a lease agreement.

  • Make sure the tenant is consistent

  Check the previous address and employment history of your tenant. Do they move or switch jobs often? If they do, this pattern is likely to continue and they will not be a long term tenant. If there is an inconsistency with their employment, it is possible that they may not be able to sustain their apartment rental.

  Look for the red flags.  If they have not shown consistent employment, they may not be able to afford the apartment in three months and you will be left starting your tenant search from scratch or dealing with an eviction.That’s a lot of work for you.

  • No to interviews but yes to meeting them in person

  You will need to physically meet them and walk them through the property. This will give you a good sense of who they are and how they will respect your home. You’ll get a sense of their cleanliness by seeing what they drive and the gut feeling you get about them is priceless. It takes very little time to conduct a walk through so make sure you don’t miss this.

  Work with San Antonio Property Management

  San Antonio Property Management is here to help you! Call me, Scott Wiggans, at 210-201-6543 and I’ll be very glad to assist you in making sure you find the right tenants that you can work with successfully.

  We aim to always make our clients happy!