What qualifications do you look for in tenants?

[John Britt]

I decided to create this post because I understand that it seems like so many new investors make the mistake of rushing to find a tenant for their property without taking the time out to do background check.  It is so important to have a standard for all perspective tenants.  The more leg work you do up front the less headaches you will have later, in some cases the later could be as soon as a couple of months.  

These are some of the requirements that I have:

- The rent that I am asking for can not be more than 30% of there monthly income

-Require an application from all perspective tenants

-Positive feedback on the last two landlords

-No pictures of using or displaying illegal drugs on there social media profiles

If anyone else has anything to add please comment.

[Jenifer Kynor]

Social media is huge! You can find out a lot about a person from their social media pages. I also think it's important to walk a perspective tenant to their car (or hand deliver an application to their current home) to have a better idea of the condition they keep their personal property in. 

No criminal history/eviction history is also important along with good landlord references! I think you have a great list going!