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

In Features, our management staff wants to deal with reliable tenants. Here are a few of the traits we look for.

1. A renter 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-renter or pet.
3. A renter is neat. A renter does not attract pests such as rodents and bugs.
4. A tenant does not misuse the property or its systems.
5. A renter is courteous and easy to work with. A tenant understands the difference between a property manager and a hotel concierge.
6. A renter doesn't annoy neighbors.
7. A renter complains at appropriate times. Renters that don't report maintenance issues cost property owners money and cause head-aches for property managers.
8. A tenant doesn't complain when it's not appropriate. This means that a tenant doesn't ask to replace functioning systems. A tenant doesn't expect more than the lease provides. A renter 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 rental term that is as long as the real estate investor wants to rent the rental.

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