Finding A Tenant Is Like Hiring A New Employee
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Soon, the tenants in one of the apartments in our house will be leaving and I’ll be given the responsibility of helping my parents find new tenants again. After seeing how my father often goes about getting new tenants, I told him that there is a better way of doing it. His typical process is just:
- Post an advertisement in the Chinese newspaper.
- Shows the apartment and explains the rules of the house.
- Accept the first person who agrees with the rules and puts down a deposit.
As many homeowners of rental properties would agree, this is a very poor method of searching for tenants. The most important thing of renting out property is to protect oneself, legally. That’s why the hunt for new tenants should mimic the procedures of hiring a new employee for a business.
1. Application Process
Just like filling in a job application, potential tenants should be given a rental application to fill out. It is not considered inappropriate to ask for a resume, references, W-9 or 1099 forms, and references. Here, we are not reviewing the person’s education and ability to perform certain task but instead, we are reviewing the person’s credibility and ability to pay the rent.
2. Interview
The interview is the key step in hiring an employee and it is also the key step when taking in a new tenant. My parents often like to meet the potential tenants just to get to know their personality and character. Someone can put anything down on a piece of paper so the interview will finalize their decision.
3. Hired!
Before officially starting work, an employee would have to sign plenty of documents to make everything official. I have proposed to my parents that I write up some things on paper, such as terms of the lease and rules of the house, and have the tenants sign it. They normally do not do this because of their limited ability to communicate in English. I’ve even thought of making a mini handbook so that tenants know things such as how to contact us, recycling information, and the rules.
Taking Charge
A detailed process, once again, serves the purpose of protect oneself. Just in the case that there would be any problems with the tenant, we can say that we told you so. Because of the close resemblance that this process has with owning a business, I’ve asked to take over this entire ordeal and have my parents conduct the interview (along with making the final decision).
Photo credit: cincyproject
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