I mentioned in the past that placing good tenants is one of the most important jobs any property managers can do. Done right, it’ll save the owner a lot of money. But the opposite is true also. Done wrong, it’ll be a disaster.
Short of life changes after placing tenants (like losing a job,) you always get perfect tenants, only if applicants just tell the truth. If someone calls you and says, “I make a lot of money. I pay on time. I have a great credit score. I never missed a payment in my life. I have a great reference from my current landlord. I am respectful. I am clean and quiet,” all you should do is to just approve him on the spot. Unfortunately, the reality is we should definitely not do that, as there are a few bad apples out there who will manipulate the information. And no, no one will say, "I am late on rent all the time. I keep the house dirty. My landlord hates me. Can I rent your house?"
So besides all the things that I wrote in the past (check the credit, landlord reference, employment, etc.,) what else can you do to improve the probability of getting good tenants? (The reason why I say, “improve the probability,” instead of “be sure” is because there is no way for any landlords to be 100% sure about any person being good, not to mention the effect of life changes after accepting them.
What you are hoping is, if they are indeed bad applicant, to find the sign that indicates that the particular applicant is a red flag. One of the best ways to do this is to check ALL the information and ask questions whenever you found some inconsistency. This starts with a completely filled out application. If you see any blank space, send it back, and it to be filled out. The more information you have, the more opportunities for you to ask questions, the more opportunities for you to find out who they really are.
Here are some of the things you should definitely check.
- Does ALL the DL information match with the application (date of birth, name, and address)? If not, ask why.
- Make sure that the DL is not expired. If it is, ask why.
- Does the income on the application match with the pay stub (you asked for the pay stubs, right?)
- Does the phone number of the supervisor on the application really her phone number?
- Check the screening report and the application to make sure the information matches.
We all make mistakes. You want to be respectful when you ask questions about why the information doesn’t match. It could easily be an innocent mistake. But if things are not matching up, keep asking questions till you get to the bottom of it. It may annoy some applicants, but remember, property managers legally work for the owners, not the tenants.
