Use Your Gut
Always use your gut; y
our intuition is priceless. You may even be better off with a less qualified tenant then one that leaves you with a bad impression. Luckily the tenant pool is so competitive that you will not have to work incredibly hard to find a qualified tenant.
Use a Tenant Screening Agency
A tenant screening agency may require the tenant to authorize their screening. If the tenant does not authorize the screening then this gives the landlord a fair indication that the tenant may not have a clean record.
Require the tenant to provide a credit report
If you are into data, like me, then you will require a credit report. It is an easy way to determine how experienced a tenant is at making payments.
Use a tenant application form
You may be surprised what people will forget to mention over the phone or in person. As such, you will find important details about your applicants by using a tenant application form. Your lease may also provide that the landlord may remedy if the tenant provides false information on a tenant application.
Make sure you can negotiate
If you cannot negotiate with your tenant then leave that tenant for another landlord. Frankly, you can find this out in the first 10 seconds of meeting a potential tenant. This goes back to always trusting your gut.
Show the rental to many tenants
You will likely have to show the place to many unqualified tenants before you find a qualified one. The right tenant will be worth the wait.
Have your tenant produce their criminal record
Verifying a criminal record is very simple and worth the fee. You can do so at the website here: http://www.wsp.wa.gov/crime/criminal-history/
Be wary of tenants who you feel sorry for
For example, you may want to give a homeless man or women a chance to rent because you here that they are living in a hotel, paying $100 a night, and just found employment at the local convenient store. You feel like they should rent from you instead of paying the hotel.
Before you decide to rent, take a step back, breathe and think about what may result from your giving nature. Your new tenant will likely also have a giving nature, except that may mean unwanted guests, using your house for an unscrupulous business, or taking care of others before paying their rent obligations. Be careful!
Have you tenant produce their criminal record
Verifying a criminal record is very simple and worth the fee. You can do so at the website here: http://www.wsp.wa.gov/crime/criminal-history/
Thanks for reading!
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