Newbie Landlord Looking For Step By Step Advice On Finding A Quality Tenant

[James Stanton]

Hey Bigger Pockets World,

My wife and I recently relocated from MA to SC.  We did a few flips back in MA, some more successful than others but we learned a lot so when we moved here and saw how much cheaper places were we decided to buy a condo for a rental property.

Doing the reno was no problem and the place looks good but now I'm at a stand still with analysis paralysis and fear of getting a bad tenant.

I'm looking for a step by step process on how to get the unit rented.  It's rent ready so now what?  I'm thinking that I need to advertise it obviously, but where and how?  I've seen references to services that will post it to multiple rental sites like Zillow but no actual names of these listing sites.  Next, I believe once I start getting calls, it's a good idea to prescreen potential tenants during the initial conversation but what questions should I ask or what should be said to weed out the bad ones?  Then what about showings, applications, leases, etc, etc?

I'm not particularly tech savy as many of the younger people on here are so I'm hoping for some good advice on where to go and what to do, step by step that will not only help me find a good tenant for my rental unit but also to streamline the application process, back ground check, payment of rent and anything else I should be on the lookout for.

Thanks in advance for any advice and your help is greatly appreciated.

[Preston Dean]

Quote from @James Stanton:

Hey Bigger Pockets World,

My wife and I recently relocated from MA to SC.  We did a few flips back in MA, some more successful than others but we learned a lot so when we moved here and saw how much cheaper places were we decided to buy a condo for a rental property.

Doing the reno was no problem and the place looks good but now I'm at a stand still with analysis paralysis and fear of getting a bad tenant.

I'm looking for a step by step process on how to get the unit rented.  It's rent ready so now what?  I'm thinking that I need to advertise it obviously, but where and how?  I've seen references to services that will post it to multiple rental sites like Zillow but no actual names of these listing sites.  Next, I believe once I start getting calls, it's a good idea to prescreen potential tenants during the initial conversation but what questions should I ask or what should be said to weed out the bad ones?  Then what about showings, applications, leases, etc, etc?

I'm not particularly tech savy as many of the younger people on here are so I'm hoping for some good advice on where to go and what to do, step by step that will not only help me find a good tenant for my rental unit but also to streamline the application process, back ground check, payment of rent and anything else I should be on the lookout for.

Thanks in advance for any advice and your help is greatly appreciated.

 Use this website. 

https://www.tenantbackgroundsearch.com/

Ask for references and then ask those references for references