All Forum Posts by: Cliff H.

@Cole Simpson the exact same way you screen standard tenants, with the exception being documentation of income as proof of current/future voucher, amount, and for how many bedrooms and tenants. Same rules for multiple past PM references, backgrounds on all over 18+, flexibility in accepting security deposit guarantee programs if applicants are unable to fund the full deposit themselves. 

Section 8’s just another income source. To stay on the right side of housing law, ensure you have all the standard, written, formal application criteria in place and uniform before leasing out any vacancy. 

Hope this helps. Tons of resources out there to assist PMs in renting their homes out to applicable voucher tenants. 

Have to agree with others. This feels more like an “offensive defense” that the tenant is using to distract from the fact that she is breaking lease early and would normally owe you that $10k difference. How much notice did she provide? Was it in writing? Did she offer to work with you in finding a replacement? Does your lease not provide specifics on what happens when tenants leave early (ie: early termination fee, % of lease payment due, etc)? 

@crystal The rule is that you have that criteria written, in advance, and applied uniformly across all tenants.  

@Crystal Hooverundefined

@Chad S. looking over the list of folks responding here and the sheer magnitude of collective experience they have, you could literally PM a single one of them and likely double your profitability overnight. Sometimes the best gift a friend can offer is a different way of looking at the same scene. 

@Karla Simmons and @Matt M. and @Matthew Irish-Jones @Quincy Lockett and @John Teachout 

You hit the nail on the heads: the reality of residential leasing in most markets is that 80% of prospectives are just scanning ads, clicking a phone number, and expecting to move in the next day without ever having to do the work required to demonstrate they're your qualified, desirable next long term tenant.

Curious if there's other systems folks here have used to ensure folks meet those minimum requirements without requiring the kind of manual handholding that so many new PMs get roped into doing?

In my XP that's completely unnecessary and the more work you put into the front-end screening, the less you have to worry about later on when folks are moving in@Karla Simmons

@Kobey Heberling don’t fear the process, just have one that you stick to. Standard, formal, unwavering qualification standards. 

@Jarrett Atkinson so great advice here. “Settling” in the leasing space can be a dangerous proposition. As others said, you made these standards for a reason, you have no immediate financial need to lease up, and the downside risk of a bad tenant is 10-100x the cost of vacancy. It’s uncommon advice, but sometimes no tenants = no problems. 

That said, consider your applicant/marketing funnel: who is your ideal tenant? Where they do they live/work? How are you marketing your space to them? 

Too many landlords/PMs throw up an ad and just assume the the best tenants will make their way through the hundreds of other ads/day they’re looking at to find their space. That’s not how it works in today’s always-on, endless stream of info. We’re all busy. We’re all overwhelmed. While general real estate trends will tell you there’s a housing shortage, what that doesn’t tell you is how many of those needing housing are a good fit for your rental. In most communities supply-demand is inverted: there’s fewer great tenants than there are available homes. 

Your job is knowing what “great” looks like for your tenants, what matters to them, including that in your ad, and ensuring that those applicants who meet your criteria can apply and move-in as fast and easy as possible. 

Happy hunting! 

@Dilini Sundaram never hurts to make your core criteria know up front, which provides a foundation to stand on when/if applicants choose to apply anyway even when they don’t meet that criteria. That said, you want to ensure that minimum criteria is stated as just that: the minimum and not grounds for full acceptance without a full application and background check. As @Jake Wiley states you always want to ensure you’re treating everyone the same and if the outcome of having a quality rental at a reasonable price is 10 families applying for your rental and 9 being denied so be it: it’s good to be wanted! 

Ways to soften the blow? Being upfront about the demand on the rental, eating the cost of applications for those denied (wouldn’t recommend, but some do it), and/or having your preliminary, no cost application be available to submit prior to requiring at-cost credit/criminal background checks. 

Hope this helps and the fact that you’re asking this question already implies you’re ahead of the game in this space. 

@Tanner Forster worth asking a local lawyer what laws may apply here, but IMHO if the applicant never completed your application is there really a need (or even a legal means) to deny them? Courtesy might be to contact them letting them know their application is incomplete, but hopefully your system (not too familiar with TenantCloud) would do that for you. 

@Matthew Paul I’ve been here countless times a and know your pain. The answer is either (a) automate your showings or (b) switch to open houses. Different advantages to each, but either one will save you countless hours, secure you better applicants/tenants, and allow you to focus more of your time on where it matters: which is not likely telling 9/10 applicants they don’t meet your minimum qualifications.