The process of an eviction

[Eric Calabrese]

Hey fellow pocketers! 

So I finally have a home and I got my first bite on a tenant. She seems like a nice woman from speaking with her, good income pretty bad credit but it's typical for the area. Being extra cautious investor I believe myself to be I'm already planning her eviction ..so I noticed she has 3 kids 2 with disabilities on one hand its great because she gets $1470 a month from SSI and although NC is a landlord state... Is it harder to evict someone with children with disablities?? 

[Dorothy Butala]

I am assuming you are planning for worst case scenario but understanding the process, and not assuming that you will have to evict this prospect before they are even a tenant?  

I would be cautious on using subjective criteria when screening tenants (ie. seems nice) and instead use objective screening criteria, as well as pre-screen all tenants.  My city has a lot of people with low income and bad credit, but it is way more expensive to evict and turn an apartment than it is to wait and find a better than average tenant.  

Before anyone even sees one of my apartments I ask them the following:

1. Move in date (seems pretty obvious but you may want to steer clear and not waste your time showing a place to a person who doesn't plan on moving for 5 months, or on the other end, the person who needs to move in tomorrow - that has red flags all over it, like, they just found out they needed housing yesterday? I think not)

2. Who will be living with you, adults and minors - you want to make sure they don't exceed the occupancy limits for the house, and you want to know the all the adults to know how many apps you will need to run

3. What is your monthly household income - create a standard for what level income people need to be considered for your place, is it 2.5 times the rent? 3 times? 

4. How long have you been with your current employer?

5. How many evictions have you had in the past X years? Decide if you want to give people a chance if they had one eviction (maybe charge a secondary security deposit that is returned after the first year of good tenancy) or do you want to not rent to anyone with an eviction past?  Your choice, but keep it even across the board for all applicants

6. How many cigarettes do you, or any other adult in the household, smoke on a typical day? 1-3, 4-7, 1 pack or more, none - I will not allow anyone who indicates that they smoke to rent from me even if they say they will smoke outside (they will smoke inside once it gets cold), turning a smokers unit is very costly once they leave, and you could incur fire damage from negligent smokers on the interior or exterior of your property - a week ago a tenant caused 10-15k worth of damage on a porch at one of my duplexes

7. How many pets or animals will you be bringing with you?  I am pet friendly and have increased my cash flow significantly by doing so.  If you are pet friendly, you will want to know if the animals/pets are fixed, up to date on shots, and have a current vet reference, if it is a dog, I also ask about any aggression, biting or menacing behavior they have had in the past - and if the tenant does qualify for a showing, they have to bring the dog/s with them, this is the only true way to tell the temperament

8. Are you able to get utilities in your name? Beware of anyone asking you to keep utilities in your name, its a bad a idea, and don't recommend doing it unless you are paying for utilities for the entire building.  Utilities that are traditionally paid for by tenants like gas and electric, I would not put into my name for them.  

Asking all these questions only takes a couple of minutes, and can save you time on showings to non-qualified people and save you the hassle of getting unqualified tenants who you will have to spend hundreds or even thousands on once you have to evict them and turn your units.  I use survey monkey to record all the answers so that I have a record that I have asked every single person the same questions with the same criteria, don't want to get in to any Fair Housing troubles.  Hope this helps!