How to Find and Keep Good Tenants

May 25, 2021

About property management , residents , tenants

When they’re happy, you’re happy

Have a rental home? If you do, then you know how crucial it is to find good tenants. If your property sits empty, you’re not getting the profit you want.

And then there are the tenants you wish you hadn’t found! A bad tenant can cost you a lot of time and money. If they don’t keep up your property, it loses its value. In the worst case, they can even cause damage to your property.

Paying their rent late or not at all means you lose money. Or what if they break their lease, or you find out they’re using your property for illegal purposes, and you have to evict them?

Are you prepared for all of these tenant issues?

Finding and keeping good tenants does not have to consume all your time and money. A good property management company (PMC) has the tools and expertise to find just the right tenant for your property, and then keep them there. Everybody’s happy.

Marketing Your Property

Look for a PMC that has a great marketing program to attract the best tenants. They should have awesome marketing already in place that finds tenants quickly, and retains them with good management and communication. This means less down time for you. Some of the resources used are:

Yellow Pages (physical and online)
Yard Signs
Internet Advertising (Google AdSense, Facebook ads, Instagram ads)
Social Media Networks (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Google+, LinkedIn)
Broker Referral Program
Tenant Referral Program
Quick addition to the local PPAR Multiple Listing Service (MLS)

Placing The Right Tenant

Finding the right tenant for your property is the first step in the successful management process. So let’s say you’ve done your advertising, and several prospective tenants apply for your property. How do you figure out which one is the right tenant for you?

A thorough background check is a good place to start. If you hire a PMC to handle the tenant screening, you won’t have to spent your weekends on dry paperwork. An experienced PMC has spent years plowing through tenant applications, and warning signs will jump out at them.

A thorough background check will include:

National Terrorist Action List review
Civil search for any evictions or litigation
Criminal search for any felonies
Sexual predators search
Credit check
Employment verification
Rental check for previous 5 years
Cross referencing addresses from application against credit report
Social Security Number verification

An important thing to note is that you’ll also be shielding yourself from rental scams and discrimination lawsuits, a great benefit PMCs provide.

Keeping Tenants Happy

Even though you now have secured a qualified tenant, your job has just begun. Now you must take care of the day-to-day operations of insuring that your investment will perform to your expectations.

Here are some ways a good PMC works to retain tenants (by making them happy where they are):

An online payment portal makes it easy to pay the lease
An online maintenance portal allows quick response to tenant needs
Lease expertise makes quick work of lease changes, like adding a bride to the lease

Handling the Bad Ones

It only takes one troublesome tenant to cause to make your investment a nightmare. A professional property manager will know all about Colorado landlord-tenant laws, and will ensure that you’re legally protected. Their attorneys will also help to make the eviction process painless, something no landlord wants to face on their own.

In Summary

We’ve only touched on what it takes to manage tenants. There is much more to it, and remember: thoroughly check out any professional property manager before you hire them. If you have any questions, or are interested in hiring All County to manage your property, call us today at: (719) 445-7172. We can help you find, purchase, and manage a rental property in Colorado Springs. All County is on your side!