Five Questions to Ask Yourself (before you say “move in”)

Should I or shouldn’t I? They look “okay,” but not great. They tell a good story. They seem like nice people. But I just am not sure. Deciding whether an applicant should rent a property from us is a sometime mind-numbing decision.

One rule of thumb is that if you aren’t sure, you don’t have enough information. But even if you have all the information you can get, sometimes you can’t decide. Here are five questions to ask yourself that might cut through all the confusing heap of facts.

Why should this person get to rent from me?

If you can think of a good reason, you are halfway there. If you can’t think of one, why are you even considering him or her? Because I need the rent money is the worst reason. Because you believe they will be good neighbors, take care of the property and pay the rent on time are good reasons. Another good reason is good references from previous landlords, landlords whom you have verified are actually previous landlords and not just the applicant’s friends posing as former landlords.

If I were an employer, would I hire this person?

That puts it in a different light, doesn’t it? If you answer, “I wouldn’t hire this person to even walk by my business” why on earth would you allow him or her to live in your property? Tenants have countless unsupervised hours to create havoc and destruction in their homes. At least while they are working they probably have a supervisor or someone else who watches them.

Would I want these people living next door to me?

Assume that they are not applying to rent from you, but are preparing to move into the house next door to yours. If you cringe in horror at the thought, why would you even think about letting this person rent your property, the one you have so much invested in, that is a valued asset? If your first thought is the junker cars that would be in the front yard, the trash piling up in the unit or the wild parties this applicant would likely have, you not only don’t want him living next door to you, but not in your rental property either.

Did I decide while I was listening to him or her?

This applicant’s rental application was somewhat lacking, but she had a terrific explanation for everything. All the red flags that went up when you looked at the rental application, such as the blank spaces, the short stays at previous apartments, the job hopping were really someone else’s fault. She just had a streak of bad luck. Mind you this streak has been going on for 20 years now, but she thinks that when she finds the right (pick one, job, boyfriend, place to live, lottery numbers) everything will turn around for her.

Am I in a hurry?

That is one of the two times a landlord gets into trouble, when he’s in a hurry. Sure you have to pay the mortgage on the property out of your pocket this month, and this applicant has a bunch of cash and is ready to move in right now. When you don’t get the rent next month you still have to take the mortgage out of your pocket, don’t you? If you have to evict a tenant, you still have to take the mortgage payment out of your pocket, maybe for more than one month, don’t you? A first month’s rent from a bad tenant is only a temporary solution. It is after the first month is up that the torment begins with a bad tenant.

The moral of this story is that as landlords we need to use a system for renting our properties. That system is a step-by-step method of accepting an application, screening an applicant and moving a new tenant in. A well-designed system puts you in control, not the applicant. So when you are faced with the dilemma of an applicant that just doesn’t look or feel right, ask yourself these five questions. If you answer “no” to any of them, think long and hard before you let him or her move in.