Nothing beats having peace of mind. That’s what you will get when you rent your properties in Albuquerque to good tenants. They will pay the rent on time. They will also take care of your property as though it belongs to them. Apart from adding value to your rental property and saving you a lot of maintenance and repair expenses, high-quality tenants in Albuquerque will not threaten neighbors’ safety and make the house unconformtable for their neighbors. More importantly, you should put great occupants in your rental apartment if you don’t want to waste your hard-earned money on attorney fees, trying to evict a bad tenant.
But the question is, how will you and other landlords like you know whether or not they have found a good tenant? In this post, we will explain all the qualities you should consider when screening prospective tenants.
No major criminal convictions
Part of your responsibility as the landlord is to keep your property and tenants safe at all times. So, when you are screening your potential occupants, you should pay attention to their criminal records. Doing a background check of their criminal conduct is very important as research suggests that 20% of rental applicants screened have a hit on their criminal record. Of course, some rental applicants will tell you that they have no relevant criminal records, but it is not prudent to take their claims as fact without ordering a background check on them.
A background check will help you to know whether rental applicants have a major felony conviction. It will also help you to know whether a prospective tenant has committed an offense that could put other tenants’ safety at risk. Failure to order a tenant background check means you are putting your property and other tenants in jeopardy.
Contrary to what people say, criminal record checks in Albuquerque are not as difficult as you think. You can do this by going to any local police department in Albuquerque. When you get there, ask the police officer in charge to perform a criminal history search of prospective applicants. Although this will cost you time and money, it will help you weed out potentially destructive tenants.
Good credit history
The joy of all rental property owners is to receive their rental fees with zero stress. Why should landlords even stress themselves in collecting their rent from tenants in the first place? Owning a rental property in Albuquerque requires a tremendous amount of financial capital. You will need to borrow loans from mortgage lenders to purchase the rental property, and every month, you need to pay back a certain proportion of the loans with interest. No independent landlords want to invest massive capital in rental properties and still have to plead with inhabitants to pay their rental bills on time.
By checking the credit history of your prospective tenants, you can screen out prospective candidates that will default on their rent payment. Make sure you check their credit score and verify whether they have a substantial amount of debts that could prevent them from paying their rent on time. Also, find out if your rental applicants have a habit of paying their rent late. A big red flag is when you notice that the candidates who want to rent your house are trying to conceal their credit history. Such potential occupants will try to sweet talk you into renting your house to them. If you cave in and let them rent your property, you will lose money in the end as they will not pay your rent on time.
Clean eviction record
All bad tenants have a history of causing problems for their landlords before being evicted from rental properties. Most times, bad tenants have a history of eviction either because they do not want to pay rent or because they do not want to comply with the terms and conditions of the owner of the rental unit.
As a landlord, your duty is to mitigate the future risk of eviction, as one published TransUnion Smart Move survey shows that evicting a bad tenant will cost you between $3500-$10 000. To evict a problem occupant from your property, you will pay legal fees, court costs, lost rent, locksmith fees (for changing the locks), and mortgage costs. Think again? Is the risk worth it? And when you factor in the time you will spend and the stress you will go through while trying to evict the problem tenants, you’ll realize that you are better off not allowing such people to access your property.
Stable income and employment
An applicant’s income and employment are good predictors of whether the person will pay rent in full and on time. As advised by industry experts, the monthly income of tenants in Albuquerque should be at least three times more than their rental fees. So, if the rent of your property is $3000 per month, you should lease the apartment to someone that earns more than $9000 every month.
However, just because a potential rental candidate earns six figures annually does not mean they will not default on their rent. That’s why as a landlord, you need to know the stability of your rental applicants employment. Are they in a stable job? Have they been with the same employer for a reasonable amount of time to show they are a good risk? The answer to some of these questions will help you to decide whether you should lease your rental apartment to a prospective tenant.
Respectful behavior
Your relationship with your tenants matters a lot. When you are screening your rental applicants, their financial capability should not be your only top concern. You should also pay close attention to their behaviors. This is because we’ve seen many tenants that are financially buoyant with no clean eviction and criminal records, yet their behaviors are questionable.
Tenants that have no respect for their landlords or neighbors are difficult to work with. They will damage your properties and expect you to make expensive repairs. Such inhabitants might not communicate politely with their neighbors. Evicting them will also be problematic as they will want to use legal means to prove that they’ve been mistreated. So, try as much as possible not to lease your rental property to applicants with bad manners.
Conclusion
Finding a high-quality tenant is like finding a good spouse. You need to screen everyone interested in your rental property and make sure that prospective candidates have all the good qualities you want. Of course, many landlords and real estate investors don’t have the time and resources to vet their rental applicants. If you are among such people, we suggest you should try Keyway Properties Inc. This property management company is based in Albuquerque, and it is highly committed to helping individuals like you to find good tenants.