Tenant Application-Red Flags Example #2

I try to ask lots of questions when I meet a prospective tenant. This will usually allow me to ferret out any problem tenants or issues.

There are so many examples of interesting tenant screening discussions that I have on a monthly basis. I thought this one was worthy of posting, not because it was funny, but for some of the subtle red flags, that I was hearing while talking to this prospective tenant.

This prospect called about a 2 bedroom apartment in an investment property in Crystal, that I own. It was recently renovated and is priced at a below market rent of $765.

Me:
So where do you live now?

Prospect:
I live just down the block in Crystal.

Me:
Great, why are you moving?

Prospect:
The landlord is going into foreclosure and he won’t fix anything and we can get in touch with him.

Me:
How about sending him a letter with your rent?

Prospect:
Oh, we haven’t been paying rent there since March (8 months).

Me:
Really! And no one has contacted you about that.

Prospect:
Nope.

Me:
[Joking] So you should have all kinds of money saved up for the damage deposit and first month’s rent on my apartment, right.

Prospect:
No, I am going to need to get my damage deposit and probably my first month’s rent from emergency assistance.

Me:
OK…………[explained my screening process] Do you have anything on record that I should be concerned with?

Prospect:
Well, I have an eviction from 2 years ago and my credit is bad.

[Thinking to myself-I saw that one coming!]

Informal tenant screening is nothing more than carrying on a conversation with some subtle questioning. I was just asking questions to understand more about where she lived and worked and such. As I heard a red flag, I steered the conversation that direction. While I did this in person, it is a great way to weed out bad tenants on the phone, saving yourself a trip to the property.

3 comments

#1Minnesota Real EstateOctober 1, 2008, 11:36 am

I have heard many of these red flags as well! I had to chuckle when I read this post. How very true indeed! People come up with the wildest stories sometimes!

#2frank lubotskyOctober 10, 2008, 9:44 pm

I dream of a day when all landlords screen their prospective tenants. Then tenants will learn that if you abuse a landlord, nobody will ever rent to them. Justice will then be a reality.

#3adminOctober 11, 2008, 10:53 am

frank lubotsky »
That will be a great day!

Add your comment

Nickname:

E-mail:

Website:

Comment:

Anti-Spam:

What is the sum of one + seven ?

Other articlesgo to homepage

	Market Rents are Up, Vacancies Down Again!(1) If you were a landlord and lived through the mid-2000′s, you saw market rents fall as many better tenants were buying houses and vacancy rates were climbing. I had to make major upgrades to many of my rental units AND take 10-20% drops in monthly rental amounts to get or keep some places rented. This [...]

	LL Tip: The Landlord Trap, Do not get caught in it.(0) Our guest blogger is Eric Drenckhahn, edrenckh@gmail.com, 651-283-7651. This is a rental situation that is run across many more times than you think. If you think it is your tenant scenario, it may be, but it happens so often it isn’t funny. So you have found a tenant. They are solid people, from a criminal standpoint. Not [...]

	Advance Rent Payments: Collecting the “First and Last” Month’s Rent(1) Matt Engel is our guest writer for today. Matt is an attorney and a Minnesota Real Estate Show radio partner. Q: “I have a new tenant who will pay the first and last months rent in advance due to bad credit. If they are late on a month can you still evict or do you wait [...]

	Staging to Rent(0) I wrote at the beginning of the month about an apartment in NE Minneapolis that I am showing. I have had many calls and probably 10 different groups through this 3 bedroom apartment. The bedrooms are large, but the living area (kitchen and family room) are very small. Most of the previous tenants that lived [...]

	Showing Apartments(0) I am in the middle of showing a duplex that I have in NE Minneapolis. It has hardwood floors, 3 bedrooms and because it is kinda small, I am asking $850. It is available immediately (if you know anyone, send them my way!). I have had several interesting experiences in this round of advertising and showing [...]