When you have advertised your property and there are potential tenants responding, you have to be careful whom you pick. If you pick a good tenant, you will be a happy landlord. If you pick the wrong tenant, you will live to regret. This is something we do not want to experience. When you place your advert for Ridgefield homes for sale or rental, you want to treat all your potential tenants fairly and you may have to give all of them a chance through the screening process that will weed out the bad tenants from the good ones. So how do you go about the tenant screening process? Here is the process:
- The first thing is the first contact. When the potential tenants call you inquiring about your house, you can ask them all the relevant questions that will make it easy for you to know them better. The first contact can also be through an email, a letter, social media and so on. Ask them why they want to rent your home. Do they have a pet? How will they pay the rent? All these questions help introduce the tenant to you.
- The next step is showing the potential tenant your rental house. You can tell a good tenant from their mannerisms, they speech, and their appearance. Did the tenant come to see the house in their cars? Are they neat and clean? Does he criticize the property for the sake of it? Did they haggle too much about the price? You can learn a lot about the potential tenants even before you speak to them. Most cash buyer property dealers want to find a tenant who will help them recoup their expenses without a lot of stress. You do not want a tenant who will be difficult for you.
- The next step is the process of rental application. Here, let the applicant fill the application forms and let them know that they will be considered alongside other potential tenants. At this stage, you have an opportunity to run a credit report on these potential tenants. You should collect a screening fee from all the potential tenants who make the application as this will help in paying for the credit scoring process.
- The fourth step is the approval stage. Here, you will have made the right decision regarding the tenant that you want for your house. Inform your tenant that you have approved their application and that they must come ready to sign the lease agreement. Let your tenant bring the right amount of money and inform them how you would like the rent fees to be paid in the future. This takes us to the final step, signing the lease.
- The lease signing is the final step in screening your tenant. Read the lease step by step with the tenant and let them understand what the lease terms and conditions are. If the [prospective tenant argues on everything on the lease agreement, then, for sure, they may not be the right kind of a tenant that you are looking for.
When you are buying your house Jersey City and you want to have a tenant occupy such a house, the above steps in screening the tenant will be crucial. Remember that a good tenant and an informed tenant will give you peace of mind in the long run.