Tenant Screening Secrets: What's Your Magic Formula?

[Michael Calvey]

Managing a rental can be as tricky as a high-wire act, especially when it comes to picking the right tenant!

A friend of mine, who not only manages but also lives in his triplex, is about to face a vacancy.

He's considering a strategy that includes a 3x income-to-rent ratio, pricing the rent $100 below the market, and stringent background checks (no felonies or evictions in the past decade, and no pets).

What do you think? Is he on the right track, or is there more to the tenant screening equation?

What criteria do you rely on? Have you ever made exceptions to your usual screening process? How did that turn out?

Do you emphasize a positive and verifiable rental history, or are there other 'must-haves' or 'deal-breakers' you swear by in your screening process?

Dive into the details—I'm all ears for your screening strategies and stories!

[Corey Conklin]

I think it's important to set criteria in screening tenants for each individual property instead of a blanket policy over all of your properties.

It's important to understand the property value and what kind of tenant you should be attracting. If you have a class C/D property in a less desirable location you shouldn't ask for the same screening criteria for a class A/B property in a great location. I see a lot of people make this mistake. If you have a great property don't sell yourself short. If you have a pile of crap don't expect too much from your tenants.

Setting income requirements, credit score, criminal history, pets, etc. is a great way to set a standard but its not going to always weed out bad tenants unfortunately. No need to beat yourself up about it. Reading people in a 10 minute window is about impossible without major red flags.

(PERSONAL OPINION: If you think vehicle cleanliness is the secret to good tenants you are out of your mind.)

One of my best tenants was someone who needed a co-signer and no rental history. A couple of my worst tenants were high earners, great credit scores, and clean backgrounds.

I'd just tell your friend they better buckle up because they're are in for a treat!