How to screen and select tenants in Barrie Ontario?

Question

Hello fellow Ontario investors!

looking for your experience and wisdom regarding screening and selecting tenants in Ontario.

I own a legal duplex in Barrie Ontario since 2014.

in recent years, I had a few great tenants, some ok tenants , handful of  bad ones, and two that was a complete nightmare.

last tenant  , haven't payed rent for 9 months and caused significant  damage to the house. he  is finally (deep deep breath...)  out.

I was learning first hand , what  some  of you probably knows well: the tenant landlord board in Ontario is a broken biased dysfunctional body.

so far, I did the screening process myself.   I post on kijiji & FB groups and then did the obvious checks  (credit score, previous landlord references, verifying income, speaking with employer and often insist on Guarantor etc)

all my tenants had , on paper , good credit and rental history and none of them was on disability or other government program

how do you lower the risk?

1 is listing with an agent really reduce the risk and worth the cost?

2 Are foreign students at Georgian College  with solid guarantor might be a safer option?

3 any other  idea/strategy   that one can apply?

Thanks so much!

Paul Sverdlin · Answer

Hi Italy,

I have a house in Barrie, and multiple rentals in other places. Thus far had only 1 tenant in a situation similar to what you describing: the wife left and the husband turned the place into a mess and had to be "dealt with". I ended up paying him one month rent to leave, with no eviction process nor missed rents. One bad case out of hundreds - not too bad, considering out tenant-friendly laws.

The key to a good tenant relationship to me starts with a conversation. The application and a credit score are important, yet in some cases they don't even have a credit score since they are new immigrants; in other cases their score is crap due to a divorce or student debt issues from years ago they are working on improving, etc. So my recommendation is to talk to people: why are they moving, have they already lived together, is there someone else they plan to bring to live with them (kids, parents, friends), do they have pets, how long they've been at their job, do they like their job, if they have kids - what extracurricular activities do those kids do, and so on and so forth. Its just a good chat, but it allows you to understand their story, their overall outlook on renting, their motivation, their values if I can say that. Its almost like a job interview: lots of people have the skills to do the job, but will they be a fit?

There are no guarantees of course, but if you layer a good chat on top of the strong application - usually results are better than just the application with a decent credit score.

Re: #1. Listing agent does reduce risk. Typically its the more stable and likely more financially savvy tenants who will think of working with a realtor. However, it also depends a lot on the realtor since some of them just want the place rented as quick as possible and may not do a full on diligence for you. Also, they do cost quite a bit. I prefer to go without one, although for a downtown Toronto condo or an Ottawa central location I would consider paying 1/2 month rent to a realtor who brings me a tenant. Post your ad on listedbyseller.ca for $150 and it will show up on mls and realtor.ca. Then wait for them to bring you applicants while you keep searching on your own through FB and kijiji.

And please, hire a professional to do property pictures. An iPhone just won't do the trick. Great pics attract better quality tenants. If someone great is looking to rent in your area, they are likely to be accepted by all of your competition. You want them to click on your ad, not on others. The fee for a pro is about $150 which you pay once and use those images for decades.

Trust this helps,

Paul

Itay Heled · Answer

I consider 630 and up.

what happens to me twice already is that I rent to a couple. Wife  had good credit , a job , good rental history etc. Then , they split  due to domestic violence, the women is leaving , the man stay and I am left with someone I would never want as my tenant...

Nathan Gesner · Answer

In 13 years of managing hundreds of rentals, I can't recall anyone with a credit score above 720 that failed to pay rent and left owing money. I can't even think of the last time someone with a credit score above 650 stopped paying rent, but there may have been a few over the years out of thousands of renters.

What credit score do you consider good? Maybe you need to increase your screening standards.

Roy Cleeves · Answer

@Itay Heled

I recommend you consider hiring Ian Hocking - a Realtor - in Barrie.  Look up Hocking Homes.  He is a long-time Property Manager that can help increase the odds of getting an excellent tenant.  The one-month fee plus HST that you will pay will be well worth it.

I have found that international students seem to be a better risk over all as well.  Sometimes they will pay months in advance rather than a guarantor since their guarantor is usually their parents in another country.

I hope this is helpful.  Best Wishes.