Red Flags to Look Out For When Showing Your Home to Potential Tenants

 

 

In this article, we are going to go over some essential steps that have to take place as well as some red flags to keep an eye out for during the showing process. Although it may seem excessive, your property investment is worth going the distance for. Managing a property can be difficult especially if you have other commitments and a busy work schedule. If this sounds like your situation, consider hiring a property management company. Not all property managers are the same, so we consider doing your research before putting your property investment in somebody else’s hands.

Now let’s jump into it!

 

Stage 1: First Contact – The prospective tenant calls you for more information about the property and the lease. Ask some pre-screening questions to make sure this prospective tenant isn’t going to waste your time.

Stage 2: The Showing – The prospective tenant has passed stage 1. Now, you’ve scheduled to show the apartment and will meet the prospective tenant(s) face-to-face for the first time.

Stage 3: The Application – Your prospective tenant is still interested and so are you. Have them fill out a rental application that includes references from prior landlords and employers. Run a credit report and criminal check.

Stage 4: Approval Process – This tenant seems like a good candidate. Complete the rental approval process by accepting him/her and gently declining all other applicants. You’re not done screening, however, until you have a signed lease agreement.

Stage 5: Lease Signing – You and your prospective tenant(s) are ready to sign a lease. Go through the lease with him/her carefully and make sure all the rules are completely understood. It’s not too late to rip up the lease if things aren’t going well, even at this point.

 

Quick tips on showing the property

You have some potential tenants coming over soon to view your rental property. Consider following these tips to ensure they fall in love with your property. The goal is to find great tenants as quickly as possible. This will save you the time and hassle of showing the apartment over and over. Although these tips aren’t necessarily screening tips, the idea is to save you valuable time.

 

1.) Consider the curb appeal of the property. Make sure shrubbery is well taken care of and any trash has been removed. If your prospective tenants see debris and overgrown hedges, they’ll question whether you are a good landlord or a penny-pincher who won’t take care of the property. A messy property tends to attract messy renters. Don’t let them think they can add to the mess.

 

2.) Fix any problems in the apartment beforehand. Take care of leaky sinks, rogue appliances and other issues before a tenant sees the property. This includes making sure the apartment is clean. A prospective tenant who sees problems and dirt will believe that its OK for them to mistreat the property as well. Well-maintained, clean apartments get well-groomed, clean tenants.

 

3.) Have selling points ready to discuss. If the property has plenty of storage, a nice deck, large bedrooms or unique amenities, be sure to mention these. Although you may not always think of yourself as a salesman, you are selling here.

 

4.) Turn the lights on in each room when you’re showing the apartment or house. Let the tenant see things in the best light. If there are nice windows, let the natural light fill the room.

 

5.) Set the temperatures so that they’re comfortable, typically between 70 and 74 degrees. You want the tenant thinking about where he/she is going to put the couch and TV, and not about how cold or hot they are.

 

6.) Be prepared with a rental application, credit check authorization forms, etc. If you’re using a system like Rentalutions, just grab their email address. You’ll log in later and request them to complete the next steps online.

 

Can you Judge a Book By Its Cover?

Short answer – yes! This will most likely be your first face-to-face meeting with your new renters. You can learn a lot about how they carry themselves and take care of their own property. Take a look at the prospective tenant’s car to see how well it’s maintained and cleaned. Does it look like a McDonald’s dumpster and have completely worn down tires? Chances are your prospective renter will treat your property the same way, if not worse.

If there will be multiple tenants or an entire family, you can suggest that all people to be on the lease come look at the apartment. This gives you an opportunity to view family/friend dynamics and meet everyone who would be moving in.

You can also start to learn their manners. Did the renters wipe their feet before entering? Did you see or smell if any of them smoked? Good qualities come in pairs (as do bad qualities). If they’re polite, you can bet that they have other good qualities as renters as well. Plus, its just better transacting with polite people.

 

Red Flags to Watch Out For

Here are a few additional red flags to watch out for while you show the apartment. If any of these come up, you should highly reconsider renting to these potential tenants.

 

1.) Did other people show up to the apartment than what had been said or indicated during the first phone call or email? Make sure you understand who you are renting to. Each person should submit an application and authorize a background check. You don’t want to allow people living in the apartment that are not on the lease agreement.

 

2.) Did the prospective tenant speak negatively about their current or previous landlords? What kinds of complaints were you hearing? Can you validate these complaints with those landlords? It’s often the case that the landlord-tenant relationship deteriorates quite quickly when there are money or behavioral issues at play. Neither of which you want to inherit.

 

3.) Is the new tenant in a big hurry to find an apartment/house? Unless there’s a good reason for the rush, such as a sudden job relocation, this could be a sign of a serious problem, such as an eviction at his current rental. Follow up on this by speaking with their current landlord.

 

4.) Were the prospective tenant(s) on time for the apartment showing? If they’re late to a showing, will they be late on other things, such as rent payments.

 

5.) Were the prospective tenant(s) easy to coordinate with? In a perfect world, your tenant would pay on-time every month and the apartment would never require any maintenance. However, that rarely happens and you’ll need to be able to coordinate with the tenant in the future. Make sure they can be reliable enough should you need to coordinate maintenance in the future.

 

6.) Are they criticizing the property? If they’re not even renting yet and complaining, just imagine what it will be like when they’re actually paying money to live in the property. And that’s if you’re lucky. What if they stop paying based on some inconsequential thing?

 

7.) Listen to the questions that your prospective new tenants ask. These questions indicate what’s important to them and how they prioritize things. Are they asking how to best host a party or if the neighbors are complainers? If so, reconsider.