Real estate, the gate to greater earning. Whether you’re a middle class earner and working your way up or trying to get into the rental business as your main career, you need to know how to read people quickly.
It’s not as easy as posting ads and accepts anyone who seems to have a paycheck. Even well-paid professionals can cost more than they’re worth if you’re not careful.
Here are a few details to help you make better decisions when choosing the right tenant for your rental.
Tenant Background Checks
If you’re flooded with rental applications, you have a great problem that can still get fairly expensive.
Interviewing applicants is a guessing game. Like any company that uses credit to verify a person’s financial trustworthiness, you can usually get by with someone who simply pays their way until something horrible goes wrong.
That may work in a vacuum of applicants who are all the same, but it’s not all about the rent money. What if the tenant is a party person who could destroy the property during their events?
What if they paid on time, but were a bit too abusive when it comes to making demands for changes and improvements? People have the right to a good home and timely repairs, but just as homeowners can be negligent, renters can be too demanding.
A background check will help you get the most information as legally possible without discriminating or prying too deeply into private matters. Background checks cover credit history as well as rental history.
With information about their financial responsibility and the opinion of previous property owners, you can make a better guess about your future tenant.
Helping First-Time Renters
What if your applicants have never rented before?
Many people have to start with no rental history with total strangers, and people fresh from their parents’ home are the steadiest source of yearly rental opportunities.
At the same time, they’re not all young, rich professionals. If you’re renting in or near a college town or a corporation that attracts young talent, you’ll need to study average salaries and cost of living.
Many property owners fight a constant battle of “maximizing” their earnings by pushing rental rates higher. While you shouldn’t lose money in renting, you may want to create a hospitable and profitable environment by setting fair rates.
If you can figure out how much most young people in an area will earn per month, factor in the cost of utilities (if you’re not covering utilities), groceries, and a bit of fun money. Debt is an issue as well, but not as easy to plan around.
As long as people have the option to afford a good life outside of rent, they’re more likely to take care of the property and continue being a good tenant. There’s always the chance that tenants will be irresponsible or the best savers from an early age, but your main concern here is profitable potential.
This is also a good chance to be an adoptive parent with far fewer responsibilities, but lots of options for joy. Young people are impressionable and may be lost with their first rental, and you can guide their mentality with workshops.
Any rental property will have interviews before allowing tenants to move in. You can easily plan an orientation program that discusses financial management, and touch on these points:
- Groceries versus fast food.
- The saving values of cooking.
- Learning how to cook on a budget.
- Seeing your paychecks and bills as a balance.
Every generation, complaints about bad budgeting and other manners are common. It takes a village to raise a child, and as a property manager, you can take matters into your own hands in a positive, profitable way that protects your property.
Contact a rental property and real estate professional to discuss other ways to plan a successful rental cash flow.