Do you have rental properties, and now you want to rent them? Do you want to use your property as a vacation spot or a permanent residence for renters? You might be in search of tenants. As you release vacancies, you will have many applications to review and finiaze candidates. Here is a catch. How will you know if you are getting the right tenant?
With that in mind, we have shortlisted some potential tenant red flags that indicate that a particular individual is not the right one to take your rental accommodation. Tenant red flags allow you to quickly decide which one you have to go with and which you must avoid.
On the other hand, hiring a real estate agent tenant screening professional is good if you only want to get good candidates for your rental. Moreover, let’s make you aware of the potential tenant red flags.
1. Bad credit
Being a landlord, you will want a tenant who can pay you on time without causing any issues. For this, you will have to conduct a thorough credit check of the tenant.
To start the process, kindly confirm if the candidate allows you to do a credit check. If they don’t allow it or want you to look at the credit report supplied by them, this is a red flag you need to be cautioned.
A good tenant should cooperate with the screening process while showing you all the details.
After all, when looking for a credit score, it should fall between 300 to 850. After all, it is good if you don’t go with a candidate whose credit score is below 700.
2. Criminal history
It is one of the vital prospective tenant red flags you must ensure before renting your property. After all, if you find any candidate’s involvement in any criminal activities, you have the legal right to reject them during the screening process.
You should be aware of the rules when running a criminal history check. For example, you should have knowledge about your state’s stance on tenant discrimination. You should be absolutely clear about the offenses that can be used to disqualify a candidate.
Moreover, you have to do your homework before starting the screening process. Calling a property management company to get this job done will be good.
3. Eviction history
Do you know what an eviction history is? Well, it is nothing but an incident where a landlord evicts a tenant. So, when screening tenants for your property, you should observe any monetary collection under the tenant credit report. If any monetary collection showed on the credit report, make sure you ask a plenty of questions to the prospective tenant to get a true answer.
4. Terrific employment history
Looking at the tenants’ employment history has many reasons. After managing their expenses, you have to ensure your tenant has enough income to pay your rent.
On the other hand, you also need to ensure how long the tenant has spent in a job, how much the tenant like his/her job to understand their potential future earnings growth. Knowing this is important because a quality tenants with less turnover is crucial to your rental business bottom line. You do not want the tenants struggling keeping their jobs.
If you find doing this difficult, call a real estate agent tenant screening professional.
5. Dishonesty
After evaluating a particular application and running a background check, you should be cautious here if you find a tenant is telling a lie. If the tenant has said lies repeatedly, you must disqualify their candidature because they are not the right person for your rental.
Conclusion
These are the prospective tenant red flags you should be aware of when screening candidates. If you find these in any candidate, you should not hesitate to disqualify that one for the safety of your good tenants.
Here is RPM Choice to streamline the screening process with our years of experience. No matter the type of candidate, we will catch them up during screening if they indicate any red flags.
We are pledged to the letter and spirit of U.S. policy for the achievement of equal housing opportunity throughout the Nation. See Equal Housing Opportunity Statement for more information.
