Screening Out Bad Tenants is all in the Details.

It can be agonizing to have bad tenants living in a property you own who make your life miserable with their unreasonable demands and ill treatment of the home. Or they simply don’t reliably pay the rent. Or they violate the lease and lie about it to your face.

Whatever the case, people like this must be avoided as tenants. And they can be if you develop a process designed to identify 5 ‘Red Flags’ these people exhibit while you are vetting them for a new lease.

…people like this must be avoided.

No. 1 They have a long-winded story explaining why their credit score is low

Bonus points for the add-on… and it’s never their fault. FICO scores in the US, as irritating as they can be, are in fact an accurate overall indicator for how responsible a person is. The score is culminated from years of behavioral data. Occasional inaccuracies occur and those with good or great credit review their reports and address those mistakes promptly. The low scorers know their number is going to be an issue so they create other tactics meant for you to choose them in spite of their score. Simply put, don’t.

No. 2 They get irritable and resist providing qualifying information

Lousy tenants don’t like being scrutinized whereas quality renters respect your screening process. Being responsible people who have worked hard to do well in life, they know it is risky to just take people on their word. AND, they have good info to share so they don’t mind sharing it. The bad tenants hate having their flaws exposed so they get upset and try to make it seem like you are being unfair or asking for too much info. Hey, your process is your process. If they can’t roll with it at this early stage, it ain’t getting better. Trust me.

Great tenants have great data to demonstrate their responsibility. Bad tenants get irritated when you ask.

No. 3 They offer something weird and unusual as far as the rent

Red flag if they want to pay you rent in cash and give you several months of rent upfront. I can see why this is tempting. Rent payments in cash are not necessarily a bad thing but what you really want is quote unquote normal people. And normal people pay their rent by check or electronically at the beginning of the month. They don’t see any reason to pay you months in advance. This is one of those tactics that may tempt you to ignore a bad intuition just to get that wad of cash now. Once in the place, I guarantee you you’ll struggle to get rent in a normal reliable way. These people like to do things their way.

No. 4 They don’t follow through during the screening process

Let’s say the people who are coming to look at your place are late for the showing. They don’t text and let you know. When they arrive, they shrug off their lateness casually. You let it go. They like the  place. You ask them to fill out the online application. Instead they email you asking to review the lease. You reply and ask them to fill out the application first and you resend the link. Days go by and no application. Then it finally comes but only one of them filled it out. You email and let them know both people need to fill out the application. They text you asking if they can review the lease and possibly move in a week after the first etc.

You see where this is going. They can’t follow direction. Not on time, don’t do what’s asked, ask repeatedly for something you’ve declined. These sorts of people won’t treat your house the way you want. They won’t respond as you need when there are problems on your end. But when they need something, it’s gonna have a very different feel. Avoid!

No.  5 Their references feel ‘off’

It’s very important to check references. You may be talking to someone and something in your gut tells you something ain’t right. What ain’t right is the person acting as their reference is not actually their employer, or former landlord, or whomever. The answers are all too glowing and too forth coming. It feels a little contrived. Because it is.

Normal references are pleasant and people are trying to help but they have an authenticity to them. This one is subtle and doesn’t happen that often. You’ve got to trust your gut if your feeling is your talking to their buddy, not their landlord.

Your open-hearted nature might get in the way of picking up the red flags of problem tenants.

It may be that you’re simply too nice a person to assume the needed demeanor to screen out problematic renters. You want to believe that what people say is the truth. You want to help people out. Your open-hearted nature might get in the way of picking up the red flags of bad tenants. Let us help. Reach out today to discuss using James Island Property Management to find you great tenants.