Tenant Qualification
When renting lower cost units, what do you look for in perspective tenants. If they had good/better resources wouldn't they rent a nicer/more expensive place.
So do you except just about anybody? Vefify minimal income? Thanks
the very problem I ran into. my property was VERY nice. on the main street of town but downtown nonetheless. I held several open houses and many of the interested persons couldn't even come up with the $25 REFUNDABLE application fee. The ones that did had TERRIBLE credit. I held out because I just didn't want to rent to someone who apparently paid no bills, except they all assured me rent was paid timely. Checking with previous landlords taught me that 'timely' for a tenant and 'timely' for the landlord have different definitions. I decided to stick to my guns and hold out for someone acceptable to me. I paid 2 months bills with no rental income and finally found the family I wanted (rather they found me). I am very happy with my choice. to look at them they make Uncle Jed & Granny look good. they receive a combination of SS disability, Social Security for the dad and work income from being a school crossing guard (the son-in-law) on the job for 12 years. They lived in their previous home for 19 years. Because of my preconceived prejudices and notions, I told them I wanted to talk to them one more time and asked if I could stop by their home - even though it was very run down and everything shabby (per my standards) it was clean. no real credit history because they pay cash for everything. no car, they take the bus or get a ride. I have no reason to believe I haven't made a great choice here.
Running a credit check on low income indiviuals is pointless. Some of these people have never had a bank account. You need to run a criminal background check, an outstanding warrant check, a sexual predator check and a small claims check to see if they have any evictions against them. That and your initial intuition is about the best you can do. Gonig by their current residence to check the state of it is a good idea too.
Although I have in my application authorization to check credit, I too, don't see the point.
My state allows you to run criminal background checks for free within the state of iowa. I verify rental history for 2 years, and like to see 3X the montly rent as income.
I'm not quite as picky on length of employment but I do like to see at least 6mo to 1 year depending on the situation. If they have paid on time for 2 years and the rent they are paying me is near what they were paying, it shows me that they can pay me even if they can't keep a job.
I am a very good landlord and if you are beginning in rentals, I may want some better tenants. Tenants should know, very simply, that if they don't pay rent they can't live there. I am not pushy, agressive, or demanding.
GOOD LUCK
do you check the criminal background & offender status online? Where?
Thanks,
Peter
The sex offender for the state of Florida is online on the fdle site, here - http://www3.fdle.state.fl.us/sexual_predators/
The criminal check is county specific
Arizona also has a good site listing sex offenders, pictures and maps.
http://az.gov/webapp/offender/main.do