Getting Quality Tenants

Getting quality tenants is key to long term real estate investing success. Creating a community of like-minded, qualified tenants that are likely to stay more than a year can be a challenge. The best way to attract quality tenants is to provide clean, safe, quality housing that tenants are proud to call home. This can be done in many, simple to implement ways, but one of the most effective is by taking care of the property during the turnover process. Here are some tips:

First and foremost, have a robust tenant screening process. Verify the information they provide using open-source internet resources and social media. This is simple and effective. We use RentRedi to document the prequalification application information before showing a unit.

To show the unit to a tenant that cannot afford the property is a waste of everyone’s most precious resource, time. After showing the unit, complete the paid application process and verify references. I can’t overstate this enough, references matter.

Clean, clean, clean. Tenants often comment that online pictures don’t look like units. Go out of your way to have the unit look and smell better than the pictures. There are many excellent cleaning products on the market today. Check out Krud Kutter, Rejuvenate, Skat, Stainless Steel Polish, and Advion to name a few. Make sure your properties are clean and well-maintained. Make the oven look like new. If you have mold, treat it with Concrobium Mold Control. If the mold is system in the basement, use a fogger and aerate the space with several gallons of Mold Control. Don't let it go untreated! Fix it!

Here we have an actual before and after photo of the floor on one of our units:
BEFORE

AFTER

See this 10 year old stove that still looks new and works perfectly that our tenants are currently using? With proper care, they will surely last!

Make sure everything is in working order before letting a tenant move in. You want to make sure that they won't have any problems or issues during their stay at your place. Make sure plumbing works and there's no leaking water anywhere—that's just not cool. Take care of the small stuff and the big stuff will take care of itself.

We proudly share these historic hand-painted advertisements located in one of our apartment buildings. They are around 100 years old, and we were able to preserve them!

Once you have an awesome tenant in the building, communicate with them. Build a relationship. This helps them know what to expect. For example, we have monthly pest control which gets communicated the week before. That helps tenants know that their team is regularly onsite. Have good communication with your tenants so that they know what to expect from you as their landlord. Communicate regularly about their needs and concerns so that you can address them quickly and efficiently when they arise.