My wife and I have owned rental units in Reno since 2010, when the streets were running with blood from the 2008-2011 downturn.

They are basically a deterrent that should be considered a robust screen door.reinforce  your deadbolts by attaching the door jambs to the framing using this method.security bars that prop up against the door knob are ok but tend to slide out at the bottom. 

Be honest and rate yourself from 1-10... if you're a 10 in marketing but a 4 in sales, instead of losing deals and higher spreads to "learn the ropes", you can max out on what you're good at, bring that value to the table and find a 10 in sales.This goes with everything among the business...We realized we sucked at initial calls so instead of getting better, we focused on hiring the best at initial calls, and this was one of our best hires. we went from 10 deals/month to 20 deals/ month almost by the next month after the hire.We did this again on the title side, and it freed up our work load to almost half it's size.Moral of the story provide value with what you are good at, value exchange and partner with someone, or hire people to fill the spots you aren't optimal in.Doing so allowed me to create a virtual wholesale system in other cities (right now we are looking for the best wholesalers in San Antonio to expand to also) by providing my value: prescreened high quality leads, to good wholesalers... we split 50/50 they get leads ready to sign, I take on the marketing and screening, they create the bigger spread than I could, I cover marketing costs, they get 50% equity split on leads that were free to them... that's a win-win-win... allowing us to expand to as many deals/month the experienced wholesaler can handle.

Needless to say 5 days after he was supposed to be out he finally came to get it May 31 move out turned into June 4th.I had a potential renter who passed up on the place because it was not truly "vacant"Additionally, the place was not cleaned, there was damage to a few places from the move and he broke a screen for one of the windows. 

I once had a renter move out and there was dried blood that had dripped down from the fridge (don't ask why!)

If you can get your tenant out peacefully-go for it and screen the heck out of the next one!

I've had good results with Cozy.coI use it for background/credit screening as well as rent collection at one of my properties that I self manage. 

Lastly, if you're in a condo, there are a lot of unknown as far as neighbors in very  close proximity ,and you don't know their screening.. granted this isn't specific to condos, but it's just the proximity of neighbors and such... we have a rule about avoiding apartment complexes for this reason!     

Typically, most landlords don't even both screening their tenants...they just accept their money, tenants move-in and then out again within six months.So, not ideal - but that is the situation on the ground.How do I protect my investment as best as I can, given the tenants I am likely to have to work with?

Does anyone know of a tenant screening service that I can do a credit, background and eviction history check on prospective tenants by entering their information myself when a tenant prospect does not have email or access to the internet?