Landlords who conduct Home Visits in Tenant Screening

[Angela Henderson]

So I've heard several presentations at my local REIA meetings and I attended a Section 8 class in the city of Philadelphia where the housing authority also encourages homeowners to incorporate home visits in the screening process. I would like to know from those landlords who conduct them, what exactly do you do at these visits. So far, I've mentioned to all of my prospects that this is a part of my process and no one has objected except a long lady today to me that she would need to get permission from her Mother in order for me to do an inspection of her home. I just said OK since we haven't yet made it through step 1, the application, but I was thinking "I'm not going to inspect her Mother's home". Anyway, it just seems that home visits could be very awkward. I totally get the point and what to conduct them because I want to get a feel for what I can expect concerning my own property considering all the hard work we have put in to it, but I am truly, truly an introvert and can't imagine exactly what I'm going to do or say. I will say that for the average city home in Philadelphia, I'm expecting that I can sum up their household habits from the living room. Thoughts please???