Property Management Blog

Tenant Screening

System - Friday, December 28, 2018

One of the key factors in owning a rental property is assuring quality tenants for your property. Having a good tenant often results in on time rent payments, less property damage, and overall fewer headaches. At PM Real Estate, our Greensboro and Wilmington property managers take the screening process very seriously as it helps increase the rental profitability for our clients and creates less problems for our employees and clients. Below are some tips that we recommend to assist with finding the right tenant for your property:

1. Prescreen-

Often, at PM Real Estate, we will prescreen tenants by giving tenants your rental requirements. For example, if a unit doesn’t allow pets, we mention this to potential candidates. Additionally, we mention other requirements such as minimum credit score, income, etc. Prescreening can eliminate tenants that do not qualify for the unit quickly.

2. Credit check-

PM Real Estate runs a credit check to see if they meet your minimum requirements. Additionally, a credit report can tell you if a tenant will pay their bills on time. This also helps to assess an applicant’s debt and obligations of monthly payments.

3. Background checks-

We also run criminal background checks to allow for a property manager or owner to determine additional red flags that a potential tenant could have. It is recommended that owners do not rent to tenants with a heavy negative criminal background.

4. Verify income and employment-

One of the most important pieces to screen is a potential renter’s income. This will help you determine whether the applicant can afford the rent. It is also important to check with the current employer to verify with the employer that they are employed by the company and to confirm the salary. It is also important to look at job stability.pm

5. Verify rental history-

Finally, we recommend contacting previous landlords to see what their experience was with the potential tenant. This can assist a landlord or property manager in deciding if the applicant will pay rental on time and take care of the property.

Overall, implementing some of the above can assist in getting a good quality tenant for your property. When conducting the rental screening process, it is important to follow the fair credit reporting act and federal housing laws against discrimination on basis of religion, sex, origin, race, family status, age, or disability. Feel free to reach out to us with further questions about the rental screening process via email at info@pmrealestate.net.








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