Vetting Tenants — How we protect the landlord’s interests.

In Potomac_yard, our team likes to deal with reasonable tenants. Here are a few of the traits we expect.

1. A tenant pays the rent when due every time. This means paying on or before the first, rather than at 5 pm on the 5th.
2. A tenant is honest. A renter does not sneak in a co-tenant or pet.
3. A tenant is neat. A renter does not bring pests like rodents and bugs.
4. A tenant does not destroy the property.
5. A tenant is courteous and pleasant to work with. A renter understands the difference between a property manager and a hotel concierge.
6. A renter doesn't annoy neighbors.
7. A tenant reports problems when appropriate. tenants that don't report maintenance issues cost real estate investors money and cause problems for property managers.
8. A renter doesn't gripe when it's not appropriate. This means that a tenant doesn't demand to upgrade functioning systems. A renter doesn't expect more than the lease provides. A tenant doesn't complain that an appliance doesn't work when the tenant doesn't know how to operate the appliance.
9. A renter does not smoke in the property.
10. A renter is looking for a lease that is as long as the real estate investor wants to rent the property.

So this is what we're looking for in a tenant, but how do we find renters who live up to this ideal? Experience has taught us that unreasonable tenants can appear as polite, nicely-dress, well educated people with jobs. We have a knack for sniffing out bad renters.