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Old 08-15-2011, 09:26 AM
 
Location: NYC
1,723 posts, read 4,088,222 times
Reputation: 2922

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Quote:
If you can't read the goddamn ad, chances are you won't bother reading the lease.
I laughed when I read the quote above but it's so true and I never thought of it that way.

To answer the original question about how to find qualified tenants... The first time I rented it out I put an ad in the local paper along with my phone number..I figured how tough could it be to find a tenant?.. Doing that was a huge pain in the butt.. will never do that again.

Now I just use a rental agent who checks out the applicants and screens them for me. I get the ultimate say on which applicant to choose though. She charges them half the rental fee.
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Old 08-15-2011, 03:20 PM
 
Location: Boise, ID
8,046 posts, read 28,418,388 times
Reputation: 9470
Quote:
Originally Posted by CarlitosBala View Post
We mainly just use Craiglist.

Once you filter out all the section-8, and people who are days from being evicted, you end up with decent tenants.

One of the main telling signs is whether they read the ad at all. All pertinent information is on the ad. The people who call me to ask how much rent is, and how many bedrooms it has, are the people that I don't waste any time on.

If you can't read the goddamn ad, chances are you won't bother reading the lease.
I agree. I actually love getting questions on the rentals, when they are intelligent questions. Questions that show you already drove past the house and read the ad and looked at the photos and have an unaddressed question.
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Old 08-15-2011, 03:46 PM
 
Location: Weston Florida
84 posts, read 316,938 times
Reputation: 31
Craigslist and we run credit reports with criminal and eviction info... I own 20 single family homes and it takes a few weeks to get a new qualified tenant....

South Florida BTW
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Old 08-15-2011, 03:52 PM
 
146 posts, read 313,020 times
Reputation: 186
How do you reject a prospective tennant after reviewing the submitted application?
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Old 08-15-2011, 04:19 PM
 
4,918 posts, read 22,643,111 times
Reputation: 6303
Quote:
Originally Posted by justnice View Post
How do you reject a prospective tennant after reviewing the submitted application?
You first establish a criteria for renting. So long as you follow that criteria and selection process, you will weed out the good from the bad. If you make it wishy washy, you will find yourself in trouble.

An examople is we don;t rent to anyone who has a felony conviction for any specifiec crime that we fell makes them a bad tenant. I don;t care if they have 10 years worth of rent payments, they are rejected.

We don;t rent to people with credit judgements of black marks related to agreeing to pay what and where they promised. A person behind on their payment to the hospital emergency room for emergency treatment for a life threatening illness on their kid is not the same as someone who walked away from their home loan or credit card payments.

Just set a criteria and stick to it.

Now if you mean how to notify them, that depends on state and federal laws as well as personal preference. If its do to something on their credit report, we notify them by letter and include all the required information under federal cf=redit reporting laws. If its die to a crimional history we outline the state law that gives us the right to deny housing for those types of criminal convictions.

If they just don;t have the references, we simple state their references didn't meet the criteria.

What we don;t do is blow smoke up their butts with lame made up excuses or claims that its already reneted. That makes us liar, somethingw e can reject tenants for so we don;t stoop to that level.
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Old 08-16-2011, 09:49 AM
 
95 posts, read 315,258 times
Reputation: 90
Quote:
Originally Posted by Squirl View Post
Ditto on CL. Once they respond to my CL posting, I send them the address and a very detailed list of my rental requirements. I ask them to review the requirements and drive by the place and if they want to see it, get back to me. Each time I have gotten a lease w/i 2 weeks of posting on CL. However, I have a posting right now and no one who has reviewed my requirements has gotten back to me. However, I am also posting 6 weeks ahead of availability and before I posted right at 30 days ahead.
What are your requirements?
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Old 08-16-2011, 11:51 AM
 
28,110 posts, read 63,531,084 times
Reputation: 23235
My core requirements are...

Verifiable Income History of 3 times the rent

No bad Credit/Evictions

Verifiable References

Honesty/Integrity
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Old 08-16-2011, 01:21 PM
 
146 posts, read 313,020 times
Reputation: 186
Would an apartment be easier to rent than a single family home?
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Old 08-16-2011, 02:03 PM
 
Location: Simmering in DFW
6,952 posts, read 22,645,188 times
Reputation: 7296
Quote:
Originally Posted by REM1 View Post
What are your requirements?
When they respond to my CL posting, they are typically asking for an appointment to see the place. At this point I provide the address and rental requirements and advise them to look all this over and if they still would like a viewing to contact me. I have copied and pasted what my rental requirements list is:

Rental Requirements:
1. Minimum 21 years of age.

2. Complete, signed, dated application.

3. No felonies within in the last five years.

4. Copy of a valid Driver’s License, State Identification Card, or Passport at lease execution

5. Copy of a Social Security Card at lease execution

6. At least one-year good current rental history that can be verified, excluding a family member.

7. At least 2 years of employment that can be verified.

8. Rent that does not exceed 30% of your gross monthly (combined) income. If you are self-employed we will need your latest tax returns as well as two months worth of bank statements.

9. Copies of your last two pay stubs submitted with application or provided when paying security deposit.

10. Credit, criminal, and eviction background checks.

11. Application fee of $30 per applicant, non-refundable.
12. Up to 2 adult dogs (2+ years old) that are house trained. $200 pet deposit per animal. No cats. Must be up to date on vaccinations and neutered. Vet records must be submitted. No history of aggression.

13. Security deposit (which is the same as one month rent) and 1st month rent must be payable in the form of cash, or cashier’s check. Tenant is resonsible for all utilities.
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Old 08-17-2011, 12:55 AM
 
13 posts, read 49,959 times
Reputation: 10
I live in NYC and going to rent my second floor. Would it be OK to use this approach? First to collect applications and tell applicants that I I will call later once I decide (using my own judgement) which person I want to screen. Once decided, I call the person and do a background check. If he/she pass, I take. If not, I call the next applicant on my list.

Thanks
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