4 Free Ways to Screen Your Tenants
April 13, 2015
Tenants are the biggest factors in determining whether your rental property is going to be profitable or not. With the right tenant in the right house, you can run a successful rental operation for a long time. It only takes one bad tenant to run a rental house into the ground.
Almost all tenants are good tenants during the “honeymoon” phase when they just start renting. So how do you find responsible to rent your properties? You screen your tenants. Typically background and credit checks are the determining factor in deciding who qualifies to rent your property.
However, just because a tenant looks good on paper doesn’t mean they will be a good fit for your rental. What I am offering today are four free ways to screen your tenants that will give you a better idea of who they are.
Check their social media
Social media is a great way to screen your tenants for free. It’s extremely common for employers to check their potential employee’s Facebook, Twitter and Instagram to gain a better idea of who they are hiring.
Using the same strategy to screen your tenants can be very effective. If you view any of their profiles and it looks like they’re living a “frat party every night” kind of lifestyle you might want to consider renting your house to somebody else.
Depending on what kind of policies you have for your rentals you should also check for pets. If a tenant submits an application that states that they don’t have pets but their social media accounts are plastered with pet selfies, there may be cause for concern.
- Use social media to screen your tenants
- Find out what kind of lifestyle they are living
- Check that there are no conflicting stories between their application and their social media
Analyze their appearance
First impressions are important. Often appearance plays a big part in your initial impression of an individual. When you first meet a potential tenant at a property there are a couple of thing you easily look at to determine what kind of tenant they will be.
Quickly scan their vehicle. Is it washed? Is the inside filled with trash? How well are they maintaining it? The condition of a car can tell a lot about that person. It shows you how a tenant treats something of their own, and probably how they will treat your property. I know a few people who are neat freaks that have messy vehicles, but most of the time the condition of a car is a reflection of people’s habits.
Pay attention to what your potential tenants are wearing. I know you “shouldn’t judge a book by its cover,” but this is an easy way to screen your tenants. Tenants going to look at your property should be treating it like an interview. If somebody shows up in tattered rags and looks like they just rolled out of bed, you may want to screen more tenants.
- First impressions are lasting, good or bad
- Scan tenants vehicle for habits
- Pay attention to how they physically present themselves
How do their children act
If you show your rental to somebody with kids, pay attention to how the kids behave. I completely understand that “kids will be kids” and that everybody has different parenting styles. However, from a strictly business standpoint, kids could be a big factor in a tenant renting your property.
Are the children well behaved? Do they seem like a handful? Do they listen? Kids can cause a lot of damage to properties. You need to make sure that the tenant understands that you are making an investment by having them rent your property. They should treat your rental property with respect.
- Pay close attention to how tenant’s children act
- Make sure they show respect towards your property
Inspect their current residence
Another way to more personally screen your tenants for free is to drive by their current residence. This is a great way to get a snapshot of what your house could look like. Just driving by a tenant’s current residence can tell you a lot.
You’ll be able to see if they take care of their yard, how good of shape the exterior of the house is and whether or not they have a lot of clutter. If the lawn is overgrown and there is a garage worth of mess in the front yard, you may want to reconsider having them as tenants.
- Drive by their current residence
- Look for signs that may indicate an undesirable situation
These are all great free ways to screen your tenants. They shouldn’t replace background and credit checks. These free screening methods should be used to find out who the people behind the numbers are. Your rental properties are like stacks of money. Make sure that you trust your tenants to handle your rentals with respect.
