Thinking about putting your property up for rent, but worried about finding qualified tenants? The rental market is on a serious upswing, with more people opting to rent rather than buy. The rental boom means property owners can afford to wait for a quality renter and not settle for less than ideal tenants just because you’re afraid of sitting on a vacancy for too long.
Take a look at these helpful tips to find quality renters and ensure your next renter will be a dream tenant.
Get A Little Help From Your Friends
If you have a vacancy or foresee one coming up in the future, ask friends, family, and colleagues if they know anyone looking for a new rental. This tactic is also an excellent way to prescreen a prospective tenant if you trust the individual who is making the recommendation.
Use social media to your advantage as well. Post any vacancies on your Facebook page and ask your friends to spread the word.
Build Relationships With Corporations
Reach out and network with area businesses who hire and relocate employees from other states. As part of a compensation package for executive level employees, many companies offer short-term corporate housing. The first person to contact at an organization would be someone in the human resources department.
Meet Prospective Tenants In Person
Unless they are moving from across the country, meeting a potential renter should be a priority. If your time is limited, you can pre-screen someone over the phone to decide if you want to take the next step, an in-person meeting.
Meeting a possible tenant in person will give you a clear sense of their cleanliness, politeness, and their ability to pay the rent promptly.
Check References And Run A Background Check
Many reputable companies run background checks; most can be done online rapidly. These services allow you to send prospective tenants a link that allows them to enter their private information and pay the fee.
You will have to call and check references yourself, and though this takes a little more time it’s well worth it in the long run. Call the potential tenant’s employers, personal references, and their last few landlords, if applicable.
A fellow property owner might be able to give you a sense of how clean and quite the applicant was and if they left the rental in good shape.
Keep A Waiting List
You probably meet people on a weekly basis that know or discover you are a landlord and they might ask if you have any properties available. If you feel they might make a good tenant, make sure you get their name, phone number, and email address so you can contact them when a property becomes available.
At Noah’s Properties, we excel in marketing rental properties and screening applicants. We would be happy to help, contact us today!
