Renting out a property that you aren’t using will allow you to make passive income each month. However, if you don’t choose the right tenants, you will find that it’s not as easy as you’d hoped it would be. Here are five advantages of screening tenants before renting a property.
1- You Won’t Have to Chase Down Rent
The last thing you want to do is to have to chase down rent every single month. When you screen potential tenants, you may be able to eliminate this. You should get a copy of their credit report to see if they pay their bills on time. If they have collections or late payments, then there’s a good chance that they have gotten into the habit of not paying their bills by their due date.
2- Minimizes Tenant Turnover
If you choose the wrong tenant, you may have to deal with them unexpectedly leaving before their lease is up or have to kick them out because they have broken the lease. Fortunately, you may be able to minimize tenant turnover by screening your tenants beforehand. Call their former landlords to find out how they were as a tenant and if they ever had any issues with them.
3- Not Having To Deal With The Hassle Of Evictions
No landlord wants to have to deal with evicting a tenant. It’s both a costly and time-consuming process. Doing a thorough screening can help you avoid this. During the screening, make sure you do things like checking their criminal history and credit and contact their references.
4- Your Property With Be Left With Minimal Wear And Tear
The wrong tenant can destroy your property very quickly. Not only will you have to pay for repairs, but you might not be able to rent your property out for a while because you are waiting for these repairs to be completed. This can equate to you losing thousands of dollars just because you chose the wrong tenant. It’s always a good idea to contact a potential tenant’s previous landlords during the screening process. If the tenant isn’t willing to give you the contact information from their previous landlords, you should be leery about renting to them. Fortunately, there are services like revidrealty.com that can help you with your tenant screening.
5- Offers Peace Of Mind
When you screen tenants before renting a property, you won’t have to worry about what your tenants are up to. You will get a lot of peace of mind knowing that your property is safe, and they most likely will be on the straight and narrow path.
While there is a chance that you will have to deal with a bad tenant at some point, you can lessen the likelihood of this happening by properly screening applicants before renting your property to them. While it may take a little bit of time and effort on your part, it will be worth it in order to avoid the hassles of having to deal with unpaid rent, evictions, destroyed property, and a lot of tenant turnover.