Screening tenant-roommates for first house hack

[Samantha Miller]

Hey Bigger Pockets Community! I am working towards settlement on my first home purchase! Settlement is set for early November. My plan with the purchase (a 4 bed single family in Philadelphia) is to rent out 3 of the bedrooms while living in one. As I am a young single female, first time home buyer, AND first time landlord, I am seeking some advice on how to properly screen potential tenants/roommates. I work at a nearby university, and as such I have access to an off-campus roommate search platform that only students/grads/staff/faculty at the university can access, so this is where I will start with my search. However, November (mid-semester) is not exactly the busiest move-in time. Therefore I may have to utilize other search sources (Craigslist, etc.) to fill all 3 rooms. I am anxious to get started on my search to make sure I get good tenants ASAP, but I also recognize that any number of things could go wrong between now and settlement, so I don’t want to jump the gun and promise a house to 3 people only to have something fall through! So my question is 2-fold: 1) What are your best tips for a young single female/new homeowner/first time landlord in an urban neighborhood for screening tenant-roommates (several factors in that question!) AND 2) What is your advice for timing the tenant/roommate search while waiting for settlement?

[Nathan Gesner]

1. Wait until you close before advertising it. You can't really show it or negotiate contracts on something you don't own.

2. Screen every applicant. Systems like Cozy.co or Tenantcloud.com will help. There are a lot of different screening services available.

3. College students present a higher risk because they are immature and lack experience with finances. Mitigate your risk by requiring parents to co-sign and take responsibility for anything that goes wrong.

4. Shared common area is a recipe for disaster so have good policies and enforce them. Who's going to clean the hair out of the shower drain? Who ate my leftover pizza for the 17th time? Can you turn down your music while I try to study? I want to have six friends over for dinner Friday night and need the kitchen, dining room, and living room.

Personally, I think it would be far wiser to hire some help with a lot of this so you don't make a big mistake. Find a property manager and let them run it for a year while you get settled and learn the ropes, then you can take over.