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!

[Account Closed]

I would not listen to the landlords you spoke to apart from this quote "The quality of your property is the quality of your tenate".

Raising the rent with no extra value to the tenant will only cause them to leave once they realize they are over paying. This will cause much higher vacancy rates which in turn will cost you more than the unjustified 10-15% rent increase.

If you buy a really nice property you are more likely to get a better tenant. However myself and 1000s of other investors are willing to take on the risk of lower and middle grade properties for the higher returns. 

everyone preaches screen screen screen and I agree that is half of the picture. the other half is in the management. Think of it this way, your tenants are like children. Children's behaviors are formed from nature(genetics) and nurture(how their raised). You can screen a quality tenant and accept them but if you don't  manage well and let little things slide more often then not the great tenant will slowly take advantage of your leniency and lack of structure. Screening is vital but it is not the only step. 

Be careful of your screening practices "hooligan" is not a protected class but the people you label as hooligans may be.  

@Brandon turner says it better than I ever could in this post:

http://www.biggerpockets.com/renewsblog/2013/01/27/tenant-screening/