Poor screening, how can I solve?

[Tyler Mutch]

Hello, 

***I want to acknowledge ahead of time that I did not screen well enough and that I made a HUGE mistake in my tenant selection***

I finished my FIRST EVER rehab in a pretty solid Milwaukee area probably B-/C+, and had people knocking at the door left and right to rent, I was super excited to have all of this traffic!  I would send people to my website that I was using for screening, most just kind of looked at me like I had two heads. The website was a nice way to weed out those who were not truly interested in renting. Along came a woman who was willing to fill it out the online application, and was upfront with me that she had had a previous eviction. She gave me a great story about how the landlord had previously screwed her over (she was living with busted pipes). She worked as a registered nurse, which I thought was a pretty stable career, she was upfront about her eviction, and she filled out the online application. She had mentioned a boyfriend potentially living with her, she was aware that if he lived there more than two weeks he would be added to the lease and the rent would increase. We knew upfront that we were taking a risk, so they (boyfriend put half, she put the other half) put down a double security deposit. I was thinking that the worse thing would be no payment and if I had double security that I could keep then it would be okay, turns out this risk was a bad idea. 

So, let's fast forward a couple of weeks, the day before move in, she walks the boyfriend through who is in a wheelchair, and he loves it because of the open concept provided. We are working through the details of the lease, and he signs onto the lease as well. I was not to worried because I had gotten a positive vibe from him, that he was a good guy, but in all honesty I had started to get a bad feeling about her. I should have trusted my gut, and not signed the lease. They paid the first month rent a couple days ahead of time, so as far as know and am concerned things are great! We are having a couple of final things done to the property a couple of days later. When we arrive we hear from the gentleman living next door( who happens to be the neighborhood watchman) about a brawl that had happened the night before, along with reports of shots being fired. Long story short, the next morning there was a brick through one of the windows, and multiple police calls from the night before. The boyfriend had ended up in the hospital a couple of weeks ago with bedsores ( we actually collected the rent from the hospital because at this point she didn't have a phone). I later find out that they had broken up, and the brawl was between his sisters and her friends, and that per reports, his friends came back with golf clubs and firearms. 

Obviously, these two are no longer able to live together. They both wanted the other one off of the lease, which I was willing to do if one of them could get the other one to sign off on the termination. He eventually agreed, saying that he didn't have the energy to deal with her drama anymore. His request was that he get his security deposit back and one month rent. So, where we currently stand is that we are more than likely going to give back his half of the security deposit, and half of the first months rent ( I would be eating the cost in attempt to make a smooth transition). For her, due next month I said that she would need to come up with the other half of the security deposit along with the next months rent. She obviously is not to happy about that, but she wants to stay in the property, which in all honesty I would rather have her get the heck out of the property! 

Yes, I know that I have made many mistakes through this whole process, I would really appreciate anyones advice as to how they would have handled this situation or what they would do next. My question is; 1) Is there grounds for eviction, I believe there is, but I am wondering if it would be better to re-write the lease for the remaining 5 months and try to collect the rest of the rent from her, or pay her to move out. 2) Could we re-write the lease for a Month to month lease and just give her a 30-day notice, to avoid the eviction process, but still get her out of there in a timely manner. 

Thank you Any/everyone for your input! 

[Kristina Heimstaedt]

Hi @Tyler Mutch. I'm going to approach the question of poor screening.

9 times out of 10, if someone stops you and gives you too much of their time to tell you a crazy story, it's normally a good indicator of someone who mismanages their life. I have never had that situation work out to my benefit. 

The economy is humming, people have money, jobs and stability. There is no reason why you should need to take on someone who has an eviction or such significant issues. The things I ask for:

1. Credit report and score- I want both

2. 2 months of bank activity- I want to see that someone knows how to manage their finances. I always tell people, "I don't care if strippers are your thing, I just want to see that you know how to not go below zero".

3. 2 months of pay stubs- I've had someone tell method they were on salary. Based on looking at their pay stubs, they clearly weren't on salary. It also gives you the opportunity to get a more clear financial picture.

4. Contact for current employer- I want to confirm that the potential tenant is employed and that their employer has no expectation of that changing any time soon.

5. Contact for current landlord- Hopefully this reason is obvious

All this being said, I then use some special indicators of my own.

1. Do they attend the showing on time or early? Anyone who doesn't show up on time clearly doesn't respect or value your time. In the same breath you might also add that it's a good indicator of valuing that rent needs to be in your account when you agreed to it in the lease. I will forgive tardiness if someone tells me ahead of time such that I'm not sitting around and just waiting.

2. Turning in information- I have had some people give me exceptional flack for some of these items that I request despite the fact that I don't ask for their SSN or a number of other things. I had some girl freak out over showing me her bank activity. She felt it was an invasion of privacy. I told her "no problem, that just means that you aren't renting from me". I also expect the information that I've asked for to be delivered in a timely manner. This shows me that the tenant is serious about moving in.

3. Hold your ground- As you're learning, you are better off not needing to deal with a pain in the butt tenant rather than avoiding them in the first place. If someone isn't ok with x,y,z issues in your application, they are more than likely not going to work with you to solve a common goal. I tell all my tenants, "this is a business relationship. I understand that this is your home and I want to make you happy and comfortable. In exchange though, I expect you to pay your rent on time and to treat my property with respect. I pride myself on being exceedingly responsive and solving problems and look forward to having a great working relationship with you moving forward". I think it sets the right tone of I'm here to help, but don't cross me. I also find that tenants are respectful of my time and this allows me to obtain more units and achieve the economies of scale effectively. 

This was a long one, but hopefully this helps!!! It takes practice, but you'll get it.