BiggerPockets Founder · HI · Member since 2008 · 16k+ posts · 5k+ votes
We just completed one of the more important guides for landlords and I thought it important that we make it visible here on the forums. These are both MUST-READS!
Tenant Screening: The Ultimate Guide At over 5,000+ Words -- This Ultimate Guide to Tenant Screening (plus infographic) is the perfect reference tool for both novice and experienced landlords alike.
We also recommend everyone take time to check out:
Great article! I am enjoying Rentalutions for my first rental which incorporates SmartMove into the entire process from beginning to end. So far it has been the best ever. I'm signing my first lease with a new tenant today. No complaints so far!
Excellent timing, we just placed our first rental property for rent and had over 10 calls and 2 showing in the first 8 hours. Very helpful!
That's awesome! How did you market your property, and what did you find the most success with? I'm 22 and will be purchasing my first rental property before the end of the year. Very excited!
Thanks so much for sharing, Joshua! This was a ton of very great information! Even having years of property management experience, I still learned some new tricks of the trade!! Again, thanks for sharing this post!!
We just listed our first rehabbed unit and I am AMAZED at how much the pre-screening phone call weeds out about 90% of inquiries. It's saved me so much time and thus money. Tire-kickers...the lot of them!
@Brendon Grover in the state of Florida the buyer would have to honor the lease. If the tenant is on month to month you can give them 2 week notice. If they're not you could ask the owner before purchasing and he may be able to negotiate with the tenant to leave early.
Hello, I am new to the landlord business. I am about to finish renovating a home that will be rented. First we thought about using a Property Manager but after discussing it and realizing the cost of having one, we decide that we could probably do it ourselves. We both work full time but my husband works 24 hour shifts and is off every other day, he feels he can take care of the house. Our rental is only 60 miles from where we live so it is a very easy drive. Can anyone suggest a good basic Screen a Tenant Program that will get us started. Also, what is the best way to advertise our property, the house is close to a military base so we are thinking on tapping into that market as well. Thank you very much in advance, I am learning a lot from these forums.
@Joshua Dorkin
Thanks for the great post. I have accepted application with past criminal records with success. I would encourage people to consider them on a case by case basis. Was it a violent crime? How long ago? Is the tenant open and honest about the event? Also I have encourage all my tenants to handle payments, and maintenance request online. It has made life much easier! I use cozy, but their are other services available.
I’d like to see more in the article about maintenance request. I still struggle with determining what a reasonable maintenance request is, and to what extent a reapair should be made. For example I recently had a request to repair the air conditioner. I am in Oklahoma where temperatures are often 100 + in the summer. House is an older historic home and was holding tempatures around 78 degrees. Had a tech out who cleaned the system and did some basic maintenance. He said the system appeared to be in good working order. Tenants were still not happy with the tempature. Do you make an expensive upgrade, or tell them mid 70’s is the best they will get in summer time?
@Deborah Burian
What would you consider the highest acceptable temperature? I’m thinking of adding it to my lease so their is no ambiguity as to what our responsibility is.
@Austin Payne Our AC guys tell us the best you can hope for is 20-30 degrees off the outside temperature. Above 80 degrees I'm going to be concerned but I would be reluctant to put an absolute temperature in a lease. We have, on occasion, put in a supplemental window unit if the CHA wasn't able to keep up and it became an ongoing issue. At about 100 degrees and below, our units can usually manage although we'll blow a capacitor here and there. When it's 110 degrees outside, there really is only so much one can do.
Where can I post on BiggerPockets to get feedback on renting a house with a pool?
Summer, it's a great question and one we come across regularly in our business. I would also say it depends on who you ask. I'll provide my perspective as both a real estate attorney, broker and owner of a property management company. I own and rent properties in the Central Valley and Sacramento regions here in CA and it gets triple digits hot...so pools can be an absolute perk. We actually pursue properties that have pools as they are a valuable amenity and add a premium to rent. Here are a couple considerations you might consider when renting a home with a pool:
Maintenance - our recommendation is to pack the monthly service into the rent because (similar to lawn service), if a tenant fails to properly maintain it correctly it could lead to over taxing your equipment, getting pool water out of balance and potentially require a costly drain and refill at turnover.
Fencing - I would check with your local jurisdiction and maybe also your local apartment association and attorney, in order to determine whether or not you have a legal requirement to fence your pool when renting it out to the public. That said, even if there was not a requirement I would strongly consider you fence your pool, especially if they have small children. But also keep in mind, all it takes is a visit from family or friends with small kids to expose them and you to the risk.
Insurance - I also recommend you talking with your insurance agent just to confirm your coverage for the pool but also what type of coverage you can expect should their be an injury or worse. Better to know ahead of time what you have and make any necessary adjustments.
Advertising - Of course, a pool looks great in photos so I would be sure to maximize that in the ad and disclose whether or not the
Leasing Provision - setting that expectation is critical in the lease related to who is going to maintain the pool. In the event you decide to allow the tenant to care for the pool, you might also consider adding in a provision that triggers your ability to raise the rent and hire a pool company in the event you observe the pool being neglected.
Vector Control - if they fail to care for the pool and it were to turn, you might also be subjecting yourself to a visit from the County Vector control agency in their attempts to mitigate the mosquitos...which are really bad this year in CA btw.
Alarm - an additional consideration might be (if not legally required) to install the alarms at the doors leading to the pool which sound/beep/alarm when those doors are opened.
I hope this list provides at least some initial considerations related to renting a property with a pool. Although I mentioned many mitigating factors and always tend to plan for the worst...in our 15+ years of management we have not had any significant negative incidents related to renting properties with pools. Best of luck to you Summer.
Franklin Spees, JD, CCRM, TCS, LEED AP
PM Essentials www.MyPMessentials.com "Only Pay For Services You Need" Serving California Landlords with low cost property management (DRE#01963981
@Franklin S.
Looking for free or low cost tenant screening and a step by step guide on how to rent and maintain my new rental home property will be closing this week. It has very few upgrades to be done so we want to rent it our quickly and trying set up the system to do so at a low cost preferrably free. Thanks for your help
@Roger Verastegui LBJ Law is reasonably priced and could probably help. I've been in transactions with them and it went smoothly. As an agent, you can also access standard lease agreements through NAR/NCREC.gov I believe. Unless you wanted a specific clause/addendum added to the lease agreement.
This may not be relevant but I am looking for a room mate, would any if these tips apply to the situation. Anyone have a roommate agreement template I can use or do I even need one? This is my duplex that I am currently renting. Any other things I should watch out for? Thank you for reading.
Thank you for posting the article, "Tenant Sreening: The Ultimate Guide". I have read through the guide and everything makes sense to me, except for one thing.
In the article it mentions that a good way to combat a tenant giving you the name and number of a friend or family member, is to call the current landlord first and ask if they have any vacancies. If the person has no idea what you're talking about, you can assume you're being tricked and you can deny that tenant immediately.
Can you explain this logic to me. I know you did not right this article but I'm hoping that you understand what is trying to be said. Does it mean that I should call the current landlord, posing as an interested applicant, without explaining who I am? Because if the person is a friend or family member, they will not know who I am or the reason for calling, and will be thoroughly confused?
Any light that you can shed on this would be greatly appreciated
Makes sense to me. You can just say hey I’m calling about the property at 123 fake st (the address your applicant listed). They say what about it? They are probably who they are supposed to be. Hope that helped