The primary objective for owning rental real estate is to make money. Landlords can facilitate meeting this objective by running their property like a business and treating their tenants well. A happy tenant is one more likely to stick around for the long term.

There are many money related issues with being a landlord. The most expensive and time consuming period, other than the initial purchase and renovation, is the turnaround phase after a tenant leaves. Repairs, cleaning, advertising, interviews, and background checks all need to be accomplished before a new tenant can move in. The fewer number of times a landlord devotes to those tasks the better.

With that in mind, here are some things I’m doing to help my tenants enjoy their stay.

Response Times

[Read more…]

Owning and renting property is one of the best investment strategies for building long-term wealth. Besides the money needed to purchase the property, what holds most people back is the fear of dealing with bad renters. It’s not a misguided consideration either. Take it from someone who knows - bad renters can be awful.

With that being said, in my five years of owning rental property, I’ve only had one bad renter who forced me to take legal action and pursue an eviction. I attribute that success to the process whereby I select tenants for my properties. I live by the adage that the best place to catch potentially bad renters is before they sign on the dotted line.

How to Screen Out Bad Renters

What can a landlord do to screen out a potentially bad renters? Here are six things I’m doing that may seem obvious but are often not followed.

1. Handle your emotions on a vacant property

[Read more…]