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Vetting Tenants — How we protect the landlord’s interests.

Vetting Tenants — How we protect the landlord’s interests.

What we look for in Northern Virginia tenants

In Northern Virginia, our team wants to deal with reasonable renters. Here are some of the traits we seek out.

  1. A renter pays the rent on time every time. This means paying on or before the first, rather than at 5 pm on the 5th.
  2. A tenant is honest. A renter does not sneak in a co-renter or pet.
  3. A tenant is reasonably clean. A renter does not attract pests such as rodents and bugs.
  4. A renter does not misuse the home.
  5. A tenant is courteous and pleasant to work with. A renter understands the difference between a property manager and a hotel concierge.
  6. A tenant doesn't annoy neighbors.
  7. A renter complains when appropriate. tenants that don't report maintenance issues cost landlords money and cause problems for property managers.
  8. A tenant doesn't complain when it's not appropriate. This means that a tenant doesn't demand to upgrade functioning systems. A tenant doesn't expect more than the lease provides. A renter doesn't complain that an appliance doesn't work when the renter doesn't know how to operate the appliance.
  9. A renter does not smoke in the property.
  10. A tenant is looking for a lease that is as long as the owner wants to rent the home.

So this is what we're looking for in a renter, but how do we find tenants who live up to this ideal? Experience has taught us that bad tenants can appear as polite, nicely-dress, well educated people with jobs. We have a nose for sniffing out difficult renters.

 

Our Five Step Process

Fair Housing Laws and our conscience dictates that we do not judge applicants in Northern Virginia based upon appearance.  Experience has taught us that appearances can be very decieving. We do however judge people based upon their history and their actions. If a applicant is difficult with our staff from the outset, they will probably be troublesome as tenants. If a lies, we can expect them to be unreliable as a tenant.  If a has difficulty scrounging up money for background fees and the first month of rent, we can expect that same potential tenant will have troubles during the lease.

But even if every action initially is promising we still vet each applicant with a complete background check. Every person and occupant must provide a government-issue photo identification. From there, as rental we start our vetting process.

How we protect the landlord’s interests in Northern Virginia:Nesbitt Realty is committed to Fair Housing

  1. We Check The Applicant’s Credit History
  2. We Investigate The Applicant’s Criminal History
  3. We Investigate The Applicant’s Rental History
  4. We Look For Internal Consistency In The Rental Application
  5. We Want To Know If The Applicant Can Afford The Rent

Northern Virginia Property Management Resources

Our recommendation

After the background check is complete we make a recommendation to the owner based upon our experience as rental managers in Northern Virginia and the information that we have verified. Ultimately the real estate investor decides if the risk is worth taking, but they make that decision based upon facts and our expert advice.

Do you want understand more about our area?

Nesbitt Realty's Guide to Real Estate is a handy tool for everyone who needs to review important real estate information about Northern Virginia and nearby areas.  The Guide to Real Estate has facts about what has sold and what is on the market, as well as many compelling facts that you may not know.  Furthermore, our Guide has quite a few of the assets of residing in Northern Virginia.  Of course, most of this is helpful for purchasers and sellers, but real estate investors and renters will likely also find the facts to be quite sobering.

Our Broker Will Nesbitt

Will Nesbitt
Will Nesbitt

"I am by nature a trusting person, but this business has taught me to verify every statement that a tenant makes. Scammers and bad tenants can sometimes give every appearance of being trustworthy and upright people. We never cut corners on background checks." ~ Will Nesbitt

Julie Nesbitt

Real Estate hours and equipment assembly located in Nesbitt Realty headquarter(s) (703) 765 0300

 I like tenants that pay on time. Late paying tenants cause extra work and unnecessary stress for landlords and property managers. ~ Julie Nesbitt