Having high-quality tenants can play a big part in creating a high-quality rental business. It is important that your tenants are reliably able to pay rent, treat the property with respect, and otherwise uphold the terms of your lease agreement. So, when it comes time to fill a vacancy, conducting thorough tenant screening is always a good idea.
There are two kinds of tenant screening processes. The first is active screening, meaning that existing applicants are evaluated based on different criteria like eviction history or income. Landlords might also run a credit check or contact references to help with their decision.
The second is passive screening, which involves taking preliminary steps to try and maximize the compatibility and qualifications of your applicant pool. Considerations like where and how you market your listings can lead to an influx of applications from tenants who are more likely to be aligned with your priorities. This article will explore some of the most significant benefits of implementing effective passive tenant screening.
Better Tenants Means Easier Management
The reason you want high-quality tenants is because they make your life easier as a landlord. Selecting the best tenants means that there are minimal instances where you have to go out of your way to deal with missing rent payments or damage to your property. Avoiding the time and effort involved with the eviction process is bound to make your life as a rental business owner a lot easier.
In order to be able to pick from a pool of high-quality tenants, you must compel those high-quality tenants to apply in the first place. The best and most trustworthy applicants are likely also looking for the most trustworthy properties and landlords, and passive screening is a way to shape your image so that you are putting out the appropriate message that gives you the results that you want.
Make Your Business More Professional
Because passive tenant screening is all about image and message, it is largely related to marketing. Taking steps to make your business appear more reliable and trustworthy to potential applicants may mean making your business more professional. For instance, a tenant choosing between two properties may favor one that has an online presence, such as online listings, a well-designed website, or virtual tours.
Using property management software is a great way to help your business look and feel professional. Hosting your services on a reputable digital platform not only looks nice, but it also enhances the user experience for tenants. If tenants are able to navigate your services, they might recommend you to a friend in need. Word of mouth from one good tenant to another is a great example of passive screening.
Establishing your business as professional and official is its own reward, but beyond its benefits for finding good tenants, it can help significantly with tenant loyalty and help establish your place among competitors in the local real estate landscape.
Make Active Screening Easier
Even if you put substantial effort into passive screening, active screening is still an essential step once applications start rolling in. However, as mentioned above, you can’t find good applicants to actively screen if you aren’t attracting the right tenants to begin with.
Passive screening is a way to help narrow things down. If you are already marketing to the kind of people you hope to gain as tenants, it is more likely that they will be your primary applicants. Active screening, then, is more likely to be an easier process, where you are able to pick from an applicant pool that is more qualified overall. Passive screening means that you are less likely to be put in a situation where you only have unqualified tenants to choose from .
Conclusion
Tenant screening is imperative to the success of your rental business, and any steps that can be taken to help attract the right tenants to your property are worth the investment in effort and time. However, this article has also demonstrated ways in which preliminary passive screening methods can benefit you outside of the tenant screening space in terms of professionalism and quality user experience for your tenants.
For all these reasons and more, you should start employing passive tenant screening techniques right away in order to find tenants who will contribute to the longevity and success of your rental business.
Or alternatively, passive screening makes you less likely to be in a situation where a bad tenant is your only option