Background Check/Deposit/Reserves

1. Always do a credit check
- anyone who refuses to pay for a credit check has bad credit
- no credit doesn't mean bad credit, some people pay cash for everything and don't use credit cards. this might even be a good thing if you are running lower end rental units. i have worked with many tenants who have working jobs and pay the rent in cash (usually it's not a good idea to collect large amounts of cash)
- do no accept a "credit report i just ran" if it is more than 2 weeks old.

2. Never let anyone move in ANYTHING before you have the deposit
- i recommend at least 1 month's rent for deposit. you can be flexible depending on the amount of the total rent but NEVER let anyone move in with a couple hundred dollars

3. Besides making sure the potential new tenant has a job, make sure they can show you they have $$$ in the bank. If the rent is $2000/mo, then it's not an unrealistic expectation for any tenant to have at least a few thousand extra dollars in their checking account. Anyone who refuses to show reserves should be avoided. I understand there are privacy issues some tenants might be uncomfortable with, but you already have all their personal information, and they are renting from YOU so unless they have $500,000 cash in their checking, there shouldn't be anything embarrassing about their account balance.

Property Management - Being A Landlord

INTRO

Welcome to the Statewide PM blog. Here our goal is to share some useful property management tips, some horror stories, and everything in between. Everyone can be a successful landlord and real estate investor by following the tips and tricks we've learned over the years. Feel free to comment and we will be more than happy to share any knowledge we can in helping you become successful in real estate.

-Statewide Property Management Team