You need to ensure that you have a laid-out program to get qualified tenants if you’re going to invest in renting properties. In this article, we concentrate on how the renter screening process will exclude bad applicants. It’s not easy for us to do so. As an owner, you need to find the perfect property for your rental business. Look up we buy houses in Fort Lauderdale on the Internet to find updated property deals. If you have your property and ready to rent it out, you need to make a set of criteria for aspiring renters.

Making tenant criteria in the listing

Renter screening takes several criteria. You can start selecting applicants that fulfill the requirements. I would like to take into account any of the items below:

1. Smoking policies. You can dictate whether or not you encourage tenants to smoke on the premises. I would recommend that you add to your criteria to prevent smokers from calling if you do not allow smoking.
2. Pet policies. You cannot enforce an animal welfare program but agree that it does not extend to something needed like service pets. You will not charge a fee for this situation as your tenant may have special needs.
3. Income-to-rent ratio. Most owners set a standard of 2.5 to 3 times the income-to-rent ratio. By following a 3-times standard, the renter must have a gross monthly salary three times more than the rent. If your rent costs a thousand dollars per month, your tenant should be making at least three times that. If these conditions are known, several applicants will be excluded.
4. Conduct background checks. The whole screening process may often be as successful as conducting a comprehensive background check. If you have a couple of red flags in the history of the interested renter, they may not continue when you announce you’re going to run a comprehensive background check.

Narrowing down to the perfect tenant 

Once you show an interested renter your vacancies, you should ensure you talk to them via a phone call. This is no surprise but several tenants look at pictures and prices and not at the requirements. This simple call is a way of evaluating them and reminding them of the tenant screening requirements. It is not unusual that candidates are not qualified as your renters.

Also, you have to ensure that they meet certain initial requirements. If you show reservation, make sure that the hint is picked up. Have they appeared on time, asked strange questions, and looked interested? These things will provide you with a clearer view of their interests.

You may consider using a paid background check which will normally cost $10–$50 and you can charge your rentals for a fee depending on your state. Also, such services require the applicant to pay for the report directly. My advice is to ensure a nationwide eviction search is included in the background check.