What is the best way to find the perfect tenant?

Hey, this is Steve Rozenberg with Empire Industries Property Management and Realty Services in the Dallas, Fort Worth area. Today we’re going to talk about what is the best way to find that perfect tenant.

There’s probably not one thing. It’s multiple things, but it all culminates into one.

The first thing you want to do is have a good product.

Have a product that matches the price point of what you’re trying to rent. If you have a $5000 rental, don’t do a $1000 make-ready. Make sure it matches. A lot of times, people spend all this money investing in an investment property, and they don’t do the things like put the right type of appliances in the property. They put cheap appliances in a very expensive home or vice versa. You always want to make sure you want to match that. You want to make sure you have the right ones for the right property.

Be very clear about your qualifications.

Be very very clear about who you will and will not accept. Have those stated so that there’s no misunderstanding. Disclose everything about what is a good tenant, what is a bad tenant in your eyes, and those are called qualifications. Then, I would strongly suggest that when you get that tenant, and they’re interested in the property because they like the product, and they match your criteria, the next thing I would do is I would make sure that when you go over the lease agreement, you actually sit down and go over and clarify what the expectations are; meaning rent is due on the first, it’s late on the third, and the eviction will start on the fourth. Make that very clear to them because you don’t want to just say everything’s going to be great; and then down the road, when they’re late, they are going to say, “I didn’t know that.” Now you’re in a court battle, and you’re trying to evict them, and now you’re stressed, and you have the sleepless nights, don’t do that. Just make sure that you clarify that upfront and put safety nets in there. It’s better to evict them before they move in than to evict them once they’re living there, because when they’re living there, it’s a lot harder.

Set expectations in the beginning

Again, just have those policies in place. Be very clear about it. Set the expectation in the beginning to make sure you are on the same page. This is Steve Rozenberg. If you’d like to call us, we’d be happy to talk to you.