Andrew Cordle

4 Free Ways to Screen Your Tenants

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...