Being a landlord or property manager is not as simple as one might think. Sure, the idea starts out fairly simple, but can become a monster before one knows it, especially for small unit or single property landlords.
Ask the question: Is it worth it?
Being a small unit or single property landlord can be an enormous challenge. All the tasks required to be a manager fall into the lap of the owner. Property maintenance, both inside and outside; finding and keeping a tenant; preserving existing tenants in multi-unit properties, and so on. The list could be endless.
Ultimately, all it might take to ruin the entire proposition is one bad tenant. A bad tenant can easily destroy everything a property owner/landlord has built.
Recently, an article posted to the AOL Real Estate blog site highlighted some of the horrors provided by a bad tenant: (realestate.aol.com/blog; Dec. 18, 13)
A tenant in a basement room of Terry and Kathy MacDonald’s house in Golden Valley, Minn., allegedly ignored their bans on smoking and drinking, then became such a nuisance when drunk that neighbors called police. When the McDonalds asked him to leave…their tenant verbally threatened them and began punching holes in walls, urinating on carpet, breaking fixtures and otherwise doing harm to the home and the McDonalds’ peace of mind. He purportedly became so threatening that, on the advice of police, the McDonalds finally fled their own home to stay in a hotel, rather than risk further confrontation — then offered to pay him to leave rather than take the time and expense of legally evicting him. http://realestate.aol.com/blog/2013/12/18/2013-most-outrageous-real-estate-stories/
And, as noted in the selection above, legal eviction takes time and costs money.
From WKTV-Utica, (Dec. 27, 13): A response to a question about eviction is stated below.
If you think you’re going to have to evict, and you believe they’ll fight it, it’s going to take 3-4 months and undoubtedly cost you $1,000-$2,000 in legal fees, plus lost rent which you’ll never get back from them, plus any property damage they could do. http://www.wktv.com/marketplace/real-estate/news/237503821.html
A thorough tenant screening process can be the single most important tool a landlord or property manager of single properties or small-unit complexes can utilize as a preventative measure. There are several different steps one can take but there are a few key components every tenant screening protocol should include:
- A complete and legally compliant application, one that includes full disclosure over the use of public records and includes a perspective tenants’ consent.
- A face-to-face interview with all perspective tenants’.
- A review of all references, specifically those of previous landlords.
- A thorough and comprehensive tenant check.
A tenant check is a process of review of public records and non-public records. While there are a wide variety of documents that can be used, several are key:
- Consumer credit report (non-public record)
- Evictions (public record)
- Criminal history (public record)
- Sex offender registry (public record)
Adam Almeida, President and CEO of TenantScreeningUSA.com states: “A tenant check is a critical part of the vetting process for perspective tenants. It is a preventative action that may greatly reduce the risk of a bad tenant. By being proactive in vetting a perspective tenant, a landlord or property manager can greatly mitigate the risk in renting.”
Being a landlord can be “worth it” as long as care is taken finding the right tenant.
TenantScreeningUSA.com is a third-party background screening company that offers thorough, affordable, and secure tenant checks for property managers large and small. TenantScreeningUSA.com is fully compliant with all local, state, and federal regulations that enforce the tenant screening industry.
