I recently had an opportunity to assist a client in leasing his property. He lived out of state and needed someone to help screen his tenants for him. Previously, he has had a couple catastrophic situations with past tenants and didn't want to repeat the experience with a freshly rehabilitated rental property.
I began screening several tenants. However, my client was very anxious to put a tenant in as soon as possible. He had placed an ad. Suddenly, I was deluged with perspective tenants who were extremely anxious to move in as soon as possible. As I ran the applications, I began to see red flags everywhere for this group of prospective tenants. Unpaid obligations to past landlords, collections accounts, shaky rent payment history, and other tell tale signs of high risk abounded.
When I discussed this with my client he revealed he had told the perspective tenants that he was desperate for someone to rent his unit. That is when I realized the law of attraction was at work in this situation. Desperate landlords attract desperate tenants. Landlords who cannot afford a vacancy often find tenants who cannot afford the rent. Unwary landlords will find themselves eaten alive by tenants who know how to play this situation to their fullest advantage.
Fortunately, with some rigorous screening and a large volume of applicants, we were finally able to find a suitable tenant with risk factors that warranted signing a lease agreement. Nevertheless, the process would have been a lot less hectic with some simple changes to messaging. Sounding the desperation alarm is a sure way to find the least tenable applicants.
If you are having issues with your tenants, or think it's time to hire a property manager, CONTACT ME, and lets discuss how we can make owning rental property a profitable and enjoyable experience.
So true. Well said Jeremy.
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