5 Questions To Ask Your Potential Tenants

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We welcome tenants who show respect for property, neighbors and the community. We’re proud of setting these standards for San Diego with our careful selection of tenants, which helps make our properties desirable places to live for positive forward-thinking families and individuals.

Whether you are a property manager, agent or renter, this set of basic screening questions can help you understand the ideal relationship between landlords and tenants of rental properties. 

  1. Why have you decided to move to this location?

This question is an example of maximizing your inquiry by actually combining two topics into one question. Some landlords or agents might just ask: why are you moving? That’s fine, but you can learn much more about your candidates by expanding the question to also ask: why here? Not all your questions need to be calibrated for double impact responses, but it’s a helpful technique when used occasionally.

It’s not as if either of these questions will be surprises. Unless it’s a first time explorer of rental properties, the candidate has probably heard these questions before.  The best answer is something like “I just got promoted and want to upgrade my standard of living.” There are plenty of acceptable answers, but “I just got evicted” usually isn’t one of them. If they were recently evicted, ask why. Sometimes an owner decides to sell rental properties and needs to clear out tenants, which is permitted in some locations.

  1. Does your monthly income allow you to pay first month’s rent and a security deposit by your move in date?

Here’s an example of actually attempting to gather four bits of information from one question: 1) income level, 2) ability to pay first month’s rent, 3) ability to pay the security deposit and 4) the desired move in date. You might get general answers, but you will still find out what you need to know, which is whether or not this individual is worth the financial risk of offering him or her a rental agreement. Even a vague response such as “yes, I’ll always have all the money for you on time” is better than “I need to get back with you on that.”

Whatever the response is, ask follow-up questions for clarity so that you can plan on an exact move in date accordingly and take the property out of inventory. If the property is available much sooner than the move in date, you may want to keep it open for other prospects. If they want to move in right away, find out what the hurry is about to make sure they aren’t poor planners.

  1. Are you able to provide references of 3 prior landlords?

This question comes up a lot in the search for rental properties, so it should yield only one right answer, which is “yes.” The only variable to this question that might change among property managers is the number of references, as some might ask for as many as five. Then again, anyone who has lived in that many places the past decade sure has moved around a lot. If that’s the case, find out why, since they might have a career that requires frequent relocation. That’s good to know when you prioritize rental candidates.

Some tenants move around due to bad relationships with landlords. There can be many reasons for such disagreements and there are examples of unfair landlords. But try to remember that’s not your problem and the last thing you want is someone to bring you their problems, such as complaints about how high rent is forcing them to cut entertainment expenses.

  1. Are you be willing to agree to a background check and credit report?

This coupled question is another example of an inquiry that demands a positive no-brainer response. Anything short of “yes” is a serious red flag. Every legitimate property manager will require a credit check and often a background check, so don’t feel you’re invading anyone’s privacy. The perfect tenant has nothing to hide in the first place. Your goal is to find the most reliable tenants, not feel sorry for criminals or people who have run up too much debt.

  1. What is your lifestyle like and does it involve pets or music?

This triple-loaded question invites the candidate to tell you about their personality and whether or not they are conscious about the world around them. They may give you the answers you want to hear based on your policies, but these personalized questions are great ice-breakers for asking additional questions about their life choices. What you really want to find out is their concern for preserving your property and conserving resources, which affect property value. It can open up a discussion on the EPA’s EnergyStar or WaterSense programs designed to promote savings and conservation tips.

 

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