Tenant Pre-Screening

How To Find A Great Tenant

Landlords are always looking for a great tenant. The question is, how do you find one?

I was online earlier and someone ask everyone in a group if they have had mostly good paying tenants or mostly bad paying tenants over the years.  Of course, the answers were all over the board. Some landlords had mostly great paying tenants, others had mostly bad paying tenants and some were in the middle. Many wondered why that is.

I can tell with absolute certainty that those landlords who have mostly good paying tenants have systems that they use every single time to find their tenants. Systems are the key to running an efficient business, no matter what you do. Without systems, your results will just be a flip of a coin . . . sometimes good, sometimes bad but never predictable.

When I look for a new tenant, I have specific systems that I use. I can tell you that I have mostly good paying tenants.

Have Systems

My systems include:

  • Listing system
  • Tenant pre-screening
  • House showing
  • Application process
  • Credit screening
  • Background check
  • Landlord verification
  • House visit

I am very thorough and I only deal in facts.  Over the years, I have learn the hard way to stick to the system and my rental criteria and not make exceptions. Every single time I helped someone out, gave a second chance, listened to a sad story, etc., I ended up making a bad decision.

These people are not bad people but they do lack the necessary skillsets to keep a job, budget their money and pay their bills on time. I am not taking on a fully grown adult to finish raising and teach them how to manage their money. They either have these skills or they don’t. I look for only the very best tenants and these people have a proven ability to pay not just their rent on time but all of their bills. Again, I have learned that once they fall behind on other bills, it is just a matter of time until they can’t pay the rent.

Because I have these systems and rental criteria, I have very few problems.  When I do have an issue, it is because of something that I couldn’t predict. I have a tenant that has been with me coming up on two years and he all of a sudden can’t pay his rent. He told me that he was fired from his job and was too embarrassed to tell me why. This gentleman had been on his job for a little over 5 years and worked for a large, well known company. There is no way to predict this. But, he knew he couldn’t pay and voluntarily moved out.

The easy answer to “How to find a great tenant” is to do your homework.  Have systems and rental criteria in place and follow them every single time.

Grab My Pre-Screening System

My pre-screening system is very effective at quickly identifying those people who don’t meet my guidelines. I have put together all of my questions as well as two free training videos.  You can grab them here