Previous Eviction Court filing .. Every single applicant

[Scott P.]

Hi 

Every single qualified tenant ( income and misc) has a previous  court filing for an eviction( when I look up their name in the court system). I have been looking for months for a tenant. The rent is lower than market & the place is nice. I get 100s of leads and interest. 

 What should I do??????

[Zachery Buffin]

It kinda sounds like you may have a property in a sub B- neighborhood which means you are attracting the clientele that kind of property gathers. Of course, admittedly, I don't know any details but if that is a common/reoccurring theme in EVERY applicant I have to wonder why that might be. 

An interesting tactic here might be to raise the rents to market or slightly above market and see if that changes the applicants you are getting, if people see lower than market rents that is appealing to a certain type, if they see market or slightly above market the kind of person that appeals to is different. 

I would never, and I mean NEVER, listen to a story someone tries to sell you on why they got evicted before. I would never believe it because tenants always lie, once they are in you have a problem waiting to blow up in your face. I know it is hard to sit on a property that isn't cash flowing and to just try to cram a tenant in even if they aren't qualified. DON'T!

Another idea off the top of my head is to look into AirBnB, I don't know if that is an option in your area or what the laws look like where you are but it could help you start to cashflow something without the issue of long term tenants. 

I hope this helps you somewhat, without more detail it is hard to tell you exactly what the issue might be but I wish you the best!