Finding Renters in Less-Desirable Areas

[Daniel Harnsberger]

I am a licensed agent and property manager in the Richmond, Virginia market. We choose to manage our clients' entire portfolio (as long as it's in our service area), regardless of any of their properties being in less-desirable areas.  

Consequently, we have a harder time finding renters in those areas as we apply our same pre-qualifications standards to those units (Income 3x or more the rent; no previous evictions; avg. credit score of 600 or better). We have found people who meet those standards do not want to live in these areas. 

My question is should we adjust the qualifications for units that are in those areas? We still want to find a paying tenant for the sake of our client, but are trying to think creatively of ways we can decrease the time the property sits vacant. Please note that we already market these properties prior to a move-out taking place as one way to accomplish this.  

Any suggestions are appreciated.