If you live in an area with a high population of military personnel nearby, you may be considering renting out your properties to members of the military. Over half a million active duty members are stationed in Virginia, Georgia, North Carolina, California, and Texas at any given time. That means you always have a plentiful… Read more »
Posts Categorized: Tenant Screening
What to Do About Non-Paying Tenants
As landlords, we hope we’ll never have to be in the position of dealing with a non-paying tenant. Unfortunately, the longer you’re in this business, the more likely it is that you’ll encounter a tenant who won’t pay rent on time, or at all. There are any number of reasons for it, from job loss… Read more »
Using Tenant Screening to Your Best Advantage
We’re no stranger to the subject of tenant screening and the many ways it benefits landlords and property owners, but that doesn’t mean it’s not worth revisiting the topic every once in a while. One of the most important preventative measures a property owner can take is properly vetting each and every one of their… Read more »
Use Screening to Support Tenant Safety
By now, we’ve established many times over that tenant screening is one of the best ways to keep your investment safe, but also focus on the tenant safety. However, you’re not the only beneficiary of thorough screening — so are your current tenants. Tenant retention is one of the best ways to succeed in this… Read more »
Security Deposit 101 for Landlords
Whether you’re getting ready to rent your first unit or you’ve been renting for a little while already, security deposits are probably on your checklist. You know they’re a way to guarantee coverage in the case of damaged or missing property, or an unforeseen issue that breaks the lease agreement. -But what don’t you know?… Read more »
Best Questions to Ask a Tenant on a Phone Interview
We’ve written several posts over the years detailing the best questions to ask prospective tenants to ensure you’re getting the best fit for your property. You know to ask why they’re moving, who’ll be living on the property, whether they have pets, where they work, and when they’d like to move. You know not to… Read more »
Preventing Bad Tenants with Due Diligence
In this blog, we’ve gone over a variety of ways to avoid bad tenants, between performing screenings and refining your application process. Even so, the point is really never belabored. No matter how experienced you are, there’s always a risk of ending up with a tenant who mistreats your property or causes problems with your… Read more »
Best Practices for Screening Tenants
We all know that one of the best ways to protect your investment is to carefully screen tenants before choosing who you’ll rent your property to. Trouble is, not every landlord or property manager knows how to do this effectively. Asking for a credit report is easy enough, but what exactly should you look for… Read more »
Can Landlords Require Credit Reports?
There are many regulations that landlords must abide by, such as not discriminating by race, gender, or disability. Because many of these stipulations are required by law, it makes sense that some might wonder if it’s legal or ethical to require credit reports or specific credit scores from prospective tenants. This is an excellent question… Read more »
Credit Check: Deciphering FICO vs Vantage Scores
As a landlord and business owner, you’ve likely become intimately acquainted with credit checks, credit scores and credit bureaus. That means you’re probably aware that the bureaus designed and released their own proprietary scoring model called the Vantage Score. While most lenders and property owners are still using FICO scores to determine an individual’s credit,… Read more »