Screen Your Tenants, Trust Your Instincts

January 29th, 2008

Through the course of this whole fiasco, I have confirmed one thing. Screen, screen, screen your potential tenants. Now I knew that this was important in the beginning, but it has really been brought to life with the set of circumstances I am dealing with now. The nice thing is, all my tenants have caught up, and so I am in clear, with some extra income due to tenants paying late fees.

But not only do you need to screen your potential tenants, you still need to put some merit on your instincts. If someone has an excellent rental application, and what you are able to verify is true, but they just don’t feel right to you, it may be a good idea to steer away from them. One of the tenants that I am renting to had problems in the past, and I had a bad feeling. But I decided to give her a chance, and I now have to deal with late rent every month. Now she has come up with the money, so in the end I am doing better than expected due to being able to collect late fees, but it is still a hassle.

So take it from me, check the rental, credit and job history of your potential tenant, and then trust your instincts for the final decision. You will probably find yourself in a much better position in the long run…