In many locations across the nation, the demand for apartments and rental houses can be so big that there are waiting lists ready for landlords to reference. If you haven't developed one filled with qualified and vetted renters, then you're missing out on one of the biggest opportunities to keep your rentals booked solid all-year-round. We've got 5 tips for finding renters & maintaining quality waiting lists that will help you succeed in your investment journey.
What's their background like?
Before building your waiting list, you need to vet the potential renter as best you can. After all, you don't want any time-wasters. It's possible you would require background check when putting someone on the list, and another background check when their name comes up (if time has passed). Regardless how you do it, background checks are a must. Your potential tenant may have an eviction track-record or a violent or drug crime on their history that doesn't match what your building's identity is all about. It's best to find these things out ahead of time so that your list isn't unnecessarily inflated causing you more work in the future.
Requiring a background check which is paid by the potential renter and non-refundable will eliminate a lot of bad actors right off the bat. If a person knows that they've been a terrible tenant in recent past, they are unlikely to potentially waste their money on a background check.
Are you taking references seriously?
When you look for references, you actually want to check them. Not just check them, but vet the reference. If the potential renter gives you a reference to their current or past landlord, do some research to verify that the landlord is real. You can see if the person is a legal property manager, or find out if the landlord owns the property by checking public records. Never take their word for it.
Often times, you may find a professional renter looking to game the system by having a friend or relative be their landlord reference, and they essentially lie for the applicant. This is why you must verify the landlord before accepting the words of a reference. Without going through this process, you may end up stuck with someone who will destroy your home or refuse to pay. It could cause more problems than it's worth.
How clean is your applicant?
You can tell a lot by looking at an applicant. No, we're not suggesting judging someone by their appearance. After all, hard working Americans may be dirty from working a 15 hour day. But there are reasons to suggest that if an applicant's vehicle is dirty, then they probably keep their dwelling that way as well.
A good idea is to meet with the potential renter at their vehicle. Let them know to meet you at a certain spot in the parking area if its a large building. If the rental is a single family or a duplex, then it may be simpler. Find out what vehicle they are driving so that you can "watch for them", and then meet with them right next to it before bringing the meeting inside. A quick glance in the window can tell you if they have fast food wrappers and empty pop bottles thrown everywhere. Or if they have piles of dirty clothes just laying about rather than in a basket, this may be a sign of times to come.
If you know ahead of time, you may even want to call off the application right then and there! It wouldn't be fair to accept their background check cash if you know you aren't going to rent to them anyway.
Are they financially sound?
During the recent lock-downs, we've seen what can happen when a mob decides not to pay their rent. Those that were financially stable and even those who had emergency savings were not only able, but also willing to pay their rent on time every month. This is why the vetting process is so important for landlords, because you need to plan for the unplanned in case of some unexpected or crazy circumstances occur beyond everyone's control.
How do you manage your list of potential renters?
When it comes to managing a rental waiting list, there's no other way than using a CRM (client relationship management). These are databases where you can manage your contacts and easily sort through them later on when a vacancy appears. For this, we recommend Webtalk. What Webtalk is can be defined as a social network that allows complete control over contacts and the content they can see. By using Webtalk and requiring potential tenants to sign up for free, it may even give them a sense of security because you're not looking at their Facebook (which you can anyway for some recon).
Once the applicant is on Webtalk, you can tag them as a waiting list applicant using the categorization feature and find them when you need them.
Why Webtalk?
Aside from the CRM features we already mentioned, there are many new products coming out which include digital payments. Not long down the road, this may be a payment solution for your rentals. It will also replace other 3rd party services such as DocuSign, DropBox, and others which you may use during your tenure as a landlord. It just makes things easier to keep it all in one place, and there is nothing like it out there outside of Webtalk. You can sign up for free at https://www.webtalk.co/o/r/6842324