There’s no doubt that if you’re a Portland Oregon landlord, having tenants is the “lifeblood” for your business but the big question is how can you find someone who is going to be a great tenant?
If you’ve owned Portland investment properties for a while, you know that tenants always come in different shapes, sizes, and from all walks of life. The good news is that there are a variety of indicators that you can use to determine when someone is going to be a fantastic tenant.
In this article, we will provide you with a list of indicators to consider so that you know if someone will be the right person for you to rent to or not.
#1 – They Have A Good Reason for Wanting to Move
The first thing to look for when considering a new tenant is their reason for moving. This tip is important because as a landlord you want someone who is going to be stable and not prone to moving every 12 months.
Let’s say that you do find a prospective tenant who moves every 12 months for their work. In this case, it’s best to carefully consider what they do for a living and ask yourself if it’s worth renting to them when you know that they may be moving on in 12 months, compared to another prospective tenant.
#2 – Legitimate References
Another thing to carefully consider when thinking about renting to someone is their references. Since we live in the Internet age, where phone numbers and even references can be faked it’s best to thoroughly investigate a potential tenants’ references before you consider them for your investment property.
How do you analyze a tenant’s references?
For example, if they give you a phone number for their current employer and supervisor, don’t hesitate to call their place of employment and make sure that the phone number they gave you matches up with the phone numbers and information for the company online.
When it comes to considering a tenant’s previous rental references, this might be a little more difficult, but not impossible.
If they’ve given you a property manager as their previous rental reference, you can easily crosscheck that reference with what’s listed for the property management company online.
For individual owner references, in these cases, you should be able to view the property tax records online to verify that the owner’s name and phone number that they gave you is, in fact, the owner of one of the previous properties that they lived in.
#3 – Application Was Filled Out Properly
Besides the tips that we’ve offered you so far, another important thing to consider when thinking about renting to someone is if they filled out their rental application properly and attentively. This means that every question was answered with a concise answer that’s easy for you to read and understand.
Tenants who cannot fill out their applications correctly or don’t take the time to finish them are people that you want to avoid renting to because their inability to fill out their application is an indicator that you’re going to potentially be renting to someone who may bring “chaos” into your life.
#4 – Professional and Courteous
Once the application is filled out and submitted, another thing that you want to consider before renting to someone is if they are professional and courteous. This is an important tip to consider because that level of professionalism will translate into if they pay their rent on time and how they treat you as their landlord.
#5 – They Ask You the Right Questions
So far, we’ve offered you a lot of tips to consider before renting to a prospective tenant. Another trait that you should look for is someone who asks the right questions.
By the “right questions” we mean someone who asks things like “how are maintenance requests handled?” or “what are your late fees?”. These are signs that you’ve found someone who is going to be a great tenant and will have an interest in living in your rental property.
Prospective tenants who ask questions like “can you split up the security deposit?” or “can the security deposit be used for the last months’ rent?” should be avoided because these types of renters may not be financially stable and should be avoided.
Let Us Help You Find Great Tenants!
At Rent Portland Homes, we specialize in helping our owner clients! 99% of our tenants do not get evicted and we also offer our clients an 11-month guarantee. This means that if one of our tenants leaves within 11 months, we will find a new tenant for our client for FREE!
Besides finding you a great tenant, another awesome benefit that comes from working with Rent Portland Homes is that we have month-to-month contracts, and you can cancel at any time.
Once you get started with Rent Portland Homes, you will also enjoy the benefits of our owner’s portal and working with a team of property management professionals that will expertly maintain your investment property while renting it for fair market rent.
We’ll Rent Your Home in 2 Steps
Step #1: We Get You the Best Price
“How much will my home rent for?” Our Professional rental management services Portland or team of Portfolio Managers will crunch the numbers to find the sweet spot that brings you maximum value without letting your rental property sit on the market too long. We Typically Rent Homes For 20% More than Self-Managed.
Step #2: We Find You the Right Tenants
You don’t want just anyone renting your home. Our exclusive marketing system goes to work marketing your rental property to find the perfect tenant. We find you the very best qualified candidates!
Contact Rent Portland Homes
To learn more tips for finding a great tenant, or to speak with us about our property management services, contact us today by clicking here.
