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I just put my house for rent on Craiglist & received one interest back so far. I found rental application from rentlaw.com but I am very new to this.
any advice from experience landlord? What type of people should I look for? whom to avoid? What are some rent flags to watch out for
I don't want the type that calls every day for problem & ultimately I would like to build up to 2-3 rental property in my portfolio. This is just the first step.
I just put my house for rent on Craiglist & received one interest back so far. I found rental application from rentlaw.com but I am very new to this.
any advice from experience landlord? What type of people should I look for? whom to avoid? What are some rent flags to watch out for
I don't want the type that calls every day for problem & ultimately I would like to build up to 2-3 rental property in my portfolio. This is just the first step.
I just placed a tenant and used transunion Smartmove for the first time and I highly recommend it. Been doing this for a while now and it was easy and awesome. Read your states landlord tenant law then go to bed then read it again then read it again the next day, know it 1000% it will save you countless times. Know your area, types of people who live there, and once you know that you will know what kind of tenant you want. I have a house in an okay area that I have tenant guidelines that I don't follow in the higher income areas.
Be VERY wary of evictions (this is the one rule I don't follow as closely in my lower income rental) and keep firm to the 2.5 times income rule. Be honest with your tenants and know the contract inside out and go over it with them clause by clause when they sign it.
Place your rental online using postlets to get posted to zillow and trulia and other websites and etc.
Print out an online application that lists references, previous address and etc, license # and etc. so you can call their references to verify the information and etc.
As AZ Manager has said use mysmartmove thats powered by transunion, it is SUPER easy to use, you can create your property, then if someone wants to apply for it make sure they put their email down on the paper app form and then send them a request and it will say so and so is requesting you to fill out the online thing on mysmartmove and etc. You can choose to pay for it or make them pay for it, it's only 35 dollars which isn't too bad of a price. The results are instant and you get eviction report, credit report, background check, any collections on their credit, judgements and etc
What you want to do is sit down and write a set of minimal standard rules fir applicants. Then apply those equally to all applicants. And you can have as many or as few standards as you wish. You don't even have to run a check. You don't even have to have a written lease.
Example for you
Credit score XXX or higher
No evictions
No judgements
No bankruptcy
3x rent to income. Minimum 2.5 which to me it's bare bones.
No more than XX% Debt to income ratio
No felony/drug record
No pets
No smoking
You need to understand you cannot discriminate on certain things. Sex, race, age, income etc.
You need to have every applicant full out a application form and pay a fee. Some states limit how much you can charge to run the application.
Do a background check. Doesn't matter how nice they are, or what they tell you. People will lie to you with a straight face if they think that's what you want to hear.
If they are over 18 they get checked and they are listed on the lease as tenants. The only occupants are minors. Everyone else is named.
I always tell people to park in the garage/driveway and I meet them outside. Not because I care what they drive how cheap or expensive it is. I want to see its condition. If it's filthy inside and out most likely that's how they are. Slobs.
Try and do a lot more on the phone screening otherwise you'll be running around like a chicken. 70-75% of my denials are basically over the phone. I ask if they meet x requirements and usually don't. I move on. I don't dwell on it. They may be nice people and just had a bad break. I don't know. I'm not being mean or rude. I simply apply the rules to everyone.
Have a lease written by a RE lawyer, and yes it's gonna cost a few hundred bucks but you're looking at a huge issue if you use a boiler plate type lease. I can punch holes in a lot of those leases. They are crap for the uninformed. Read and understand your lease.
Have your paperwork in PDF form. When a tenant signs lease they always sign first, then send to you. You review and look for changes or mistakes and only after looking it over you sign. You never sign first.
Scan all paperwork. Keep it on a back up hard drive and hard copy.
File cabinet with a lock and key. It's sensitive info. Be aware of that.
Never take 3rd party checks for rent.
Never accept partial rent
Know the beginning process of eviction, 3 day pay quit, 3 day resolve or quit etc.
Read the book Landlording. And you don't accept partial rent - you begin the eviction. Biggest mistake we ever made. It's a tenant testing to see if they can string you along. Take the biggest security deposit your state allows. It's your cushion against the eviction.
Take the biggest security deposit your state allows. It's your cushion against the eviction.
It depends on your market, most people won't pay more than a month for deposit. In some areas first and last and deposit is customary, in others only first and deposit.
Because you should be able to pay your rent in full every month. If you can't, then you have either a budgeting issue or an income issue. Neither one should effect your ability to pay rent and neither one are a concern for the landlord.
Partial rent just stalls the inevitable eviction to come...it bides time for the tenant.
It depends on your market, most people won't pay more than a month for deposit. In some areas first and last and deposit is customary, in others only first and deposit.
It doesn't matter what 'most' people will do...those than can't afford the required deposit, can't afford the unit and those are the ones you want to avoid renting to.
OP: Don't make deals with applicants who don't have money on hand to pay your required move in monies. Don't take partial deposits, don't take partial rent, don't take partial anything...you're running a business; not a charity.
Read this site from front to back and then AGAIN. Read about every step from the landlord's perspective and then read the tenant's perspective. Google your state landlord/tenant law handbook, usually every state has one online in PDF form. Read that one too.
And I hate to say it, but be proactive at every step and protect yourself and your tenant too. Anticipate the worst BUT treat your tenant the best. Do offer quarterly pest control and use that time to inspect the property.
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