First time in search of a tenant

[Rhett Miller]

I've rented a house out to my wife's coworker. They are now purchasing a home and are moving out, so I am in search of a new tenant. I've never looked for a tenant outside of word of mouth, so I'm, looking for ways to find tenants. I've created a profile on Zillow for a rental, but so far I only get property management companies calling. Is there a way to have a potential tenent answer a pre-screening questionaire before they get my contact info so I'm not bombarded by PM and tenants that don't meet certain requirements?

By pre-screening, I mean simply, a certain amount of income, credit score, max amount of members living in the unit etc.

Also, since I've never had to look for a tenant I've never had to prepare a house for a new tenant. Are there certain 'tasks' you do to prepare the home prior to showing / or renting once an old tenant moves out?

[Daniel A.]

Hello Rhett,

When it comes to seeking tenants, everyone has their opinions and their procedures. It is always annoying when you post an ad and instead of getting tenants, you get companies contacting you as a means of dredging up business for themselves. There is that part of me that says to entertain those inquiries and see what they have to offer and what their rates are. Just to have that information of file, you know? At some point down the road, if for whatever reason you decide to hire a PM company, then you'll have a good idea of who offers what. I don't know if this would work, but you might want to put a note on your Zillow ad (or any ad, for that matter) asking that PM companies not contact you about providing management services. Be nice in your wording, though. You don't want to scare away tenants because of a harsh beratement. 

But you didn't publish this post to ask about PM companies. So I shall provide some pointers accompanied with thoughts. For starters, despite some contrary opinions, I generally publish my listings in as many places as possible. Yes, I even post on Craigslist. How I go about pre-screening prospective tenants is straightforward. I post my Tenant Qualifying Criteria in the ad. This includes the specifics. At least X credit score. 3x Income. No evictions. Etc. Whenever anyone contacts me, I know that the qualifying criteria was on the ad. I don't assume they read it, though. Whenever a prospect reaches out to me, be it by email or by phone, I take a moment to go over the criteria with them before inviting them to tour the available unit and fill out an application. I let them know of the application fee of X amount and that we use that application fee to pay for the screening service, which provides information regarding all of the criteria. I then ask them if they feel comfortable with the criteria. 

By and large, I don't let tenants fill out applications online. And I always charge an application fee. If you don't, people are going to be filling them out, thinking or hoping that you aren't going to verify the information. After all, what have they to lose if there is no application fee? If they assent that the qualifying criteria is acceptable, what I do is ask them to come tour the unit. After they give it the thumbs up, that's when I pull out the Tenant Qualifying Criteria sheet and once again go over it with them. I then have them sign that Tenant Qualifying Criteria sheet. If they again agree that they meet or exceed the criteria and sign on the line, that is when I give them the application to fill out or direct them to the online portal where they can fill out the application.

I know that having three separate instances of going over the qualifying criteria may seem a bit excessive, but it is necessary if you wish to vet out a majority of the people with credit scores in the low 500s, multiple evictions, and some criminal history. If you do it multiple times, if you have the signed sheet, then those prospects cannot claim discrimination when their application is denied because they didn't tell you about that one eviction 4 years ago. They cannot claim that they didn't know. Most anyone who doesn't meet your qualifying criteria won't bother paying your application fee if they know they won't pass, so long as you are transparent about your criteria. You ensure they know by driving the point home.

Yes, that process is time consuming, but would you rather vet 10 applications, denying 9 of them because those 9 people didn't bother reading anything other than the rental price? Or would you prefer vetting 1 application that a screening yields positive results?

As to doing a make-ready (getting your house rentable), the key there is to just clean everything. And when I say everything, I mean everything. Pull out the fridge. Clean all sides, around the bottom, behind it. Clean inside the fridge, inside the microwave, inside the dishwasher. Make sure the garbage disposal is clean and working. Clean the floor. Wipe down the baseboards. Scrub the toilet. Scrub the sink. Get yourself an outlet tester and go around making sure all the electrical outlets work. Make sure all the lights work (interior and exterior). Make sure the smoke detectors work. If you have a garage, do you have a garage opener and does it work? Clean the carpets. Fill in any holes in the walls. You could also consider hiring a company to come do a top-to-bottom cleaning for a couple hundred bucks. Oh, and make sure all the appliances work, and especially the toilet and the shower. Make sure the shower doesn't pool water up.

Once your rental looks brand new, make sure that you get yourself a Move-In/Move-Out Inspection sheet. This is the form you give to your new tenant the day that he/she/they plan on moving in. I highly recommend that you do the walk-through with your new tenant, having them mark down any blemishes they see. Take photos if they point out anything. DO NOT skip having this sheet filled out. Last thing you want is your tenant moving out, claiming that the bowling ball-sized hole in the wall was there when they moved in and you having no tangible proof otherwise. 

I hope this gave you some guidance. One other thing you can do is Google "Apartments for rent in [your city]." See what the top results are and then figure out how to get your property listed with those services.