How are you finding good tenants?

[Jordan Jaramillo]

I am having a difficult time finding quality tenants. I have had more turnover in the last six months and I ever have. Is there any tips, strategies, or marketing platforms that I could utilize that may be better than typical Facebook market, Craig’s list and Zillow ?

[Mary Jay]

Quote from @Jordan Jaramillo:

I am having a difficult time finding quality tenants. I have had more turnover in the last six months and I ever have. Is there any tips, strategies, or marketing platforms that I could utilize that may be better than typical Facebook market, Craig’s list and Zillow ?

 Same here. The last couple of years I’ve had kind of bad tenants…

But I advertise on zillow

[Eliott Elias]

Screen them correctly. Make sure they meet minimum credit, income, and background requirements.

[Nathan Gesner]

Quote from @Jordan Jaramillo:

I am having a difficult time finding quality tenants. I have had more turnover in the last six months and I ever have. Is there any tips, strategies, or marketing platforms that I could utilize that may be better than typical Facebook market, Craig’s list and Zillow ?

Craigslist is one of the worst places to market. Facebook is a close second. The bar of entry is very low, so you'll get low-quality renters.

I use software that pushes my rentals out to many websites like apartment.com, Zillow, Trulia, Realtor.com, hotpads, etc. You can use software like TenantCloud for free up to 75 units and get pushed out to 4-5 sites. 

I recommend you include some of your key qualification criteria in the advertisement. For example, I mention that every adult must pay a $30 application fee and pass my credit/criminal background, they must make a combined income of 3x the rent, and whether or not the property accepts pets. Use the top three or four discriminators so applicants can kind of screen themselves.

Then you need to have clear screening criteria yourself. What's the lowest credit score you will allow? Do you check Landlord references? Do you verify their income? Do you know how to read the credit/criminal background? What if they have collections or judgments? 

Here's a detailed guide on how to screen applicants: https://www.biggerpockets.com/...

[Tommy Parker]

Please screen tenants appropriately. That's the only way I was able to get great tenants. Bc I use Innago I use their tenant screening and it's made a difference between bad and great tenants. Also, make sure you're listing on listing pages and not social media!

[Michael Bailey]

@Jordan Jaramillo I'm so sorry to hear that you've been having a hard time trying to find good tenants.

I can only stress what others have already stressed; get through screening reports and set clear guidelines.

Bigger Pockets actually offers tenant screening on their site through a trusted partner. There are multiple options available for screening packages; tenant involvement/no tenant involvement, instant reports, hand-compiled reports, and even income verification.

You can find further information by going to Tenant Screening under the Tools tab.

Best of luck to you!