How to Choose the Right Tenants For Your Home Rentals

Finding the right tenant to occupy your rental property can be quite a challenge. You want to be confident your real estate will be well-cared for, you want the rent paid on time, and you want to avoid trouble with the neighbors. So don’t skip any of these important tips to help you succeed in selecting the right tenants for your rental.

1. Use a formal application. Every prospective renter should complete a rental application. Along with this, you will be asking to verify their income (pay stubs and a call to work to verify you’ve been given true facts.) You’re looking for the tenant’s income to be roughly 3 times the cost of the rent, and determine his or her back-end debt ratio isn’t already consuming too much of that income. You’ll also get permission to run a credit check on each applicant.
2. Check background information. You may want to hire a service that will perform background and criminal history checks for you, so you can discover relevant details such as criminal history or eviction history. If they are available, you can also ask for the names and numbers of two previous landlords, and call them both to ask about their experience with this renter.
3. Know the housing laws, in your state, in your county, and in your city. You are not permitted to discriminate against prospective tenants for reasons of race or color, religion, nation of origin, gender, children or disability. You are, however, allowed to obtain permission to talk to employers, credit agencies, and previous landlords, and to know your applicant’s criminal history.
4. Be clear in all of your advertising what parameters of behavior are expected from a tenant regarding the topics of smoking, pets, and roommates, so they know what to expect the rules to be. Generally, it is acceptable to limit the number of occupants in a dwelling to 2 adults per average-sized bedroom.

If you begin with these tips, you’ll find the right tenant to rent your property before you know it. Contact The Shoreway Realty Group for assistance in finding the right tenants for your rental properties.