When it comes to leasing your property, you of course want to make sure you avoid leaving it empty as far as possible. If your real estate is currently ‘between’ residents, then you’ll be losing a lot of money each month and leaving the property to look more and more ‘unlived in’ by the day. Ultimately, you might find yourself forced to accept a lower rate than you had planned just to avoid having it empty for another month.
With all that in mind, filling your property should be a priority. But that’s not to say that you should be indiscriminate in choosing who you rent to, so it’s important not to rush. In fact, if you get this wrong, you may find that having bad tenants is worse than having no tenants at all! Let the wrong people stay in your apartment or house and you could find they damage your belongings, miss rent and upset the neighbors – costing you and the property management companies a lot of time and money in the process.
In this post, we’ll look at how you can go about avoiding the ‘wrong kind’ of residents.
Décor and Design
To an extent, a certain type of property is going to attract a certain type of tenant and the way that you decorate your rooms can have a big impact on how the property is seen and who finds it appealing.
It’s important here to try and avoid prejudice or stereotypes. It’s easy to think that the ‘adorable old couple’ are going to be better tenants than the ‘four boisterous lads’ but this isn’t actually all the case (some old couples are downright livewires).
Don’t try to ‘put off’ a demographic then but rather just create a décor that is more conducive to quiet dinner parties and evenings in front of the TV than it is house parties and games of indoor football. If you need more advice on how to pull this off, make sure you ask your property management company.
Quality
On the whole, a more well looked after property is likely to attract a better standard of resident. If your rooms are covered in mold and ancient furniture from the scrap yard, then people will think it ‘doesn’t matter’ how they behave in your home – and as a result you will attract people who want those types of properties. Property management companies work closely with clients to ensure that their places are well maintained and look high quality.
Rules
Don’t be afraid to enforce a few rules for your property if you are concerned about the types of residents you might get. It’s not uncommon to create a no-pets rule, or a ‘no students’ rule and you can even request that your residents be professionals. This is your prerogative and if there’s a certain of person you want to avoid, that’s entirely your call to make.
Assessing the Residents
Most important of all though is to take some time to assess your potential residents and to decide on a case-by-case basis whether they are a good fit for your property.
Speak with the prospective tenants in person and you should be able to get a vibe from them that helps you to make your decision and if you can’t do this then your property management companies should be able to tell you whether or not the prospective tenants are a good choice.
Try to keep the advertised price of rent a little on the high side meanwhile and that way you’ll be able to entice the better seeming clientele with discounted rates.