How do you protect against bad tenates?

[Craig C.]

Hi, I've been doing a lot of research in my Area, and the surrounding area, and I have spoken with 3 different landlords who have given me a similar answer to the question above:

Q: "How do you protect against bad tenates?"

2 out of 3 said "You just can't", the third said "Run rent about 15% higher than you initially plan to rent your property for, nobody's going to want to destroy something they pay more for. Run a credit check, and if you want to rent at $650, rent between $725 and $750",

One of them went on to say "The quality of your property is the quality of your tenate",

I feel a little less than satisfied, as I know of one who had 6 rentals, and his horror story was people stripped everything out of the properties, and ultimately caused him to go bankrupt!

How do I, as a soon to be landlord, filter out the hooligans and protect myself from bad tenates? I am eagerly seeking as much advice as I can find! Thanks!