How do you screen student tenants? They have no salary (3*rent)

[Mohamad Naamani]

Hello everyone,

What strategies do you use to screen student tenants, mainly to make sure they will be able to pay the rent over the whole lease period.

Whether they were undergrad, grad, or even international students. All three have different situations that don't apply to one another.

Thanks!

[Peter Tverdov]

My company manages a lot of student rentals in NJ, about 150-200 tenants a year. Verify they're a student (having a university email address with their name is a good indicator), find out what their major is (the harder the better), find out if they're in a frat/sorority/sports team and ask for a landlord reference if they lived somewhere else. Aside from that, trust your gut. If they're asking you about the attic, basement, backyard (i.e. partying areas) let them go elsewhere. 

We don't do parent co-signers anymore. We got so sick and tired of dealing with helicopter parents. They're not on the Lease, we're not legally required to speak to them. Maybe one call to be nice, but that's it. Click.

99% of the time this will work. Mom and Dad aren't letting their precious angel get evicted at 20.