How to Screen a Perspective Tenant Part Two

 Yesterday I wrote part one on this topic: How to Screen a Perspective Tenant Part One

Today I will continue on the same subject.  Once I have screened the potential applicant over the phone and have determined that they might be good potential tenants, I make an appointment to show the property.  The showings can help to determine if this is a person that would be a good fit for the property and the landlord. 

The first thing that helps to screen potential tenants is whether or not they have arrived on time to the appointment. If they didn’t, did they call and let me know? Did they apologize? Or did they act like it is no problem that they showed up late?   This is different from a person being late for a showing appointment as a buyer, in that you or your owner, will have to deal with this person on a regular basis, on matters where things need to be done in a timely manner (pay rent, give proper notices), so this is a pretty important factor is determining a “fit.”

If they arrived on time, I will take a look at their car, do they take good care of it? Is it clean? This helps to give you an idea of how they will take care of the property.  This is not a make or break evaluation, just a good to know fact, as you more forward.  I also look at how well they take care of themselves and/or their children, basically for the same reason. 

The questions that they ask at the showing appointment are an important factor.  If they ask about property inspections and/or how often the landlord will come and see the property, that is worth noting.  They may have something to hide.  If they ask if it is a big deal if they are late once in a while, that is also worth noting, they are probably be going to be paying late.  If they go into a long convoluted story about no being able to get a good reference from their current landlord, because the landlord doesn’t like them because… (I have heard multiple versions of this one: the landlord doesn’t want to fix anything, there is mold, the landlord wants to move back in, and the landlord is doing illegal things.)  Sometimes these things do hold water, more often than not they don’t.  It is something that warrants a lot of additional investigating though, and takes a lot more time. 

If they decide they like the property and request an application, I give it to them and they look it over. At this point many potential applicants will ask questions about what exactly will disqualify them.  I have a list on the first page of things that will disqualify them, some read it first, some don’t. Either way, the questions span from:  what if I had a bankruptcy five years ago to what if I have an eviction, but it wasn’t my fault?  I had a couple one time that looked over the application, and then said well “He actually has been convicted of a felony, and is currently wearing an ankle bracelet as he is on house arrest.”  It wasn’t his fault though; he was falsely accused of stealing from his old job. Would the owner consider them? I explained that I would have to run it by the owner. This particular owner was willing to take almost anyone, and it was not a management account for me, just a placement.  The couple looked pretty rough, so I asked a few additional questions and she finally asked, “Is there anything that would automatically disqualify us?”  My response was well yeah, if either is a sexual predator or had ever been convicted of manufacturing or dealing illegal drugs.  Their response was to laugh and say "oh no, never". 

Before I called the owner to see if he would even consider them, (against my advice of course) I put both names in Google and for each one a mug shot popped up.  They had each had several convictions for manufacturing and selling illegal drugs.  Even that owner didn’t go for that.