There are a couple of different types of investing niches that would have you with tenants. One would be long-term buys and holds, in which you buy property and put tenants in them. The other would be when you are buying houses for subject-to.
I’m going to let you learn from my mistakes. I’ve made them all with tenants, unfortunately. When I first got in the business, I bought a lot of houses subject-to, still have most of them, and am slowly selling off some of them.
First off, you want to do your homework when you are screening. When we sell subject-to, we buy the house subject to the mortgage. Somebody signs you over the house. They literally give you the house. You can live in it, or rent it out. But, make sure that you know your exit strategy before you enter the deal. The exit strategy is usually to lease with an option to buy, or Rent to Own. When you put this kind of tenant in there, they will give you a lump sum up front to move in. Don’t just charge them a security deposit. You want to get at least $4,000 or $5,000 from these folks as an option deposit, up front. This gives them the right to buy the property at any time. Basically, they are paying that up front to lock themselves in at that time, at that price
Sometimes, it’s tempting to take the person with the highest option deposit. Let’s say you have two people interested. One of them has $7,000 to put down, with terrible credit, have been evicted several times, and swear that they will pay their rent. But, the other one only has $4,000 and a spotless record. You might want to consider taking the person with the $4,000 with the spotless record, because that other $3,000 could be eaten up pretty fast with attorney fees, court fees, and a lack of mortgage payments if you have a deadbeat living in your home.
There are several different websites to choose from where you can get a lot of backround information on tenants before you have them in your home. The site that I use asks me to enter their name, last 2 or 3 places that they have lived, and social security number. Within a minute, I can find out if they have ever been evicted or have gone to court for lack of making payments. I have had people that I have run through on a website, and it would show that they have been evicted three times within a year. Screen your tenants.
You can also have a criminal background or retail credit check done as well. Please note that most tenants have bad credit. That’s why they are renting from you. They either don’t have a lot of money or have bad credit.
Get More Information about Your Tenants
You should also call and talk to their old landlord. A trick I use is this: If their old rent was $825 a month, I would call the old landlord and purposely give them a wrong dollar amount. I will tell them that I had a tenant of yours apply to rent a property of mine. I will tell them that they said they paid $875 month in rent. Then I will ask if that is correct. I want that landlord to come back to me and say, “No, they are paying $825 a month for rent”. I am doing that because I don’t know if they are really renting a house from these people. How do I know it’s not their Cousin, that they gave me their phone number for and have asked the Cousin to pretend to be a landlord? I might even screw up the address a little. I want to see that they know some things that they might have forgotten to tell their Cousin when they set the Cousin up to do this.
You also want to verify their employment. If they say they are working somewhere, call there! Most places, all they can do is verify information. You will say their name and how much they are making, and they can say “yes” or “no”. Usually they can tell you if they think the prospective tenant will be there for the next 24 months or so.
Another trick I use is to leave a piece of paper out of your screening, or forget something. Come up with some reason to drop by where they are living now, to ask a question or talk to them. You want to make sure they really live there. More importantly, you want to see the condition of that house. I can guarantee you that within 2 weeks, whatever condition their current home is, your place will look the same.
I have had people take a perfect house with new carpeting, painting, and everything clean and have had them turn it into a wreck in 6 weeks time. I have thrown tenants out after 6 or 7 weeks. One tenant left 2 to 3 feet of stuff on the floors in every room. There was mold on the walls because there was so much urine in the carpets. A neighbor told me they had 7 or 8 cats, 2 or 3 dogs, and a whole bunch of bunnies. The carpets were ruined and it took me several tries to find a company to come clean it. We also filled up a huge dumpster to clean it out. Be careful. Please go see what they live like. Also, don’t disappear after they move in. Drop by to say hello every now and then. Your contract should say that you should be able to inspect the house whenever you want to, with 24 hours notice. You might get a really good tenant that pays on time and you think they are sweethearts, but your home may be trashed. Please, go check it out.
You have to be careful and not discriminate, or ask how old they are. You can ask if they are over 21, though. You can’t discriminate due to age, sex, race, or religion, but you CAN discriminate due to their lying to you.
Also, be tough on these people, especially at first. Some are professionals at not paying their rent. They know the loopholes and the legal system. If it gets to be the 5th of the month and you don’t have your rent, if you don’t have your rent, they should get a certified eviction notice on the 6th. I know this because I was dumb and kind with my first tenant. I had a $2,200 a month mortgage payment, and her rent was $2,500. The first few months were good, but she was a mortgage broker, and when the mortgage industry fell apart, so did she. She would call and tell me about her problems and apologize and I would tell her how thankful I was that she was trying, etc. Before I knew it the 1st came, the 15th came, and she said she’s getting paid soon, and eventually, she was 6 months behind and I was Mr. Nice Guy, falling for her stories and lies. I finally had to go to court and evict her, and making all of the mortgage payments. As soon as they are late, you let them know that you are not fooling around.
Now, I tell people up front that as long as they make their payment on time, you will love me. I will be the best landlord they will ever have. I tell them if they don’t pay their rent, they will hate me and they will hate me fast. And I tell them that. I want to intimidate them a little bit. I will be a good landlord. If they need help with something, I will be there. If they want to buy the house, I will help them find a lender to get them into the home. I will bend over backwards for someone. That’s my property and they better take care of it! That’s the attitude you have to take up front. Let them know that you are not going to take “it” from them. If you send them their notice that they are going to be evicted, make sure you follow through in a few days, evict them when you say you will, even get a letter from a lawyer to them if they don’t leave. It’s a game with these folks, so you have to let them know you mean business. It will save you a lot of problems in the end. I have spent many sleepless nights wondering how the heck I’m going to get some bad tenants out of my property.
On another note, reward your good tenants. At Christmastime, why not give them a $50 gift certificate for Jewel or something, or even take a visit and look around and see what type of improvements you can make for them? If you have a 3 bedroom house with no ceiling fans in those bedrooms, why don’t you go ahead and tell them you are going to install some fans for them? They will love you for it. And if they love you, their chances of renewing that lease will increase for you! You want to keep them as your tenants as long as possible! Good Luck!
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