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

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

What we seek in Falls Church renters

In Falls Church, our management staff wants to work with reliable tenants. Here are a few of the traits we look for.

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

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

 

Our Five Step Process

Fair Housing Laws and our conscience dictates that we do not judge people in Falls Church based upon appearance.  Experience has taught us that appearances can be very decieving. We do however assess potential tenants based upon their reputation and their actions. If a applicant is rude to us at the start, they will probably be trying as renters. If a is dishonest, we will expect them to be dishonest as a tenant.  If a has difficulty finding money for background fees and the first month of rent, we will expect that same applicant will have difficulty while they are in the rental.

But even if every appearance initially is good we still check the background of each potential tenant with a complete background check. Every person and occupant must submit a government-issue photo identification. From there, as rental we start our vetting process.

How we protect the landlord’s interests in Falls Church: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

Falls Church Property Management Resources

Our recommendation

After the background check is finished we make a recommendation to the owner based upon our experience as property managers in Falls Church and the information that we have verified. Ultimately the property owner decides if the risk is worth taking, but they make that decision based upon facts and our expert advice.

Should you know more about our community?

Nesbitt Realty's Guide to Real Estate is a free tool for everyone who wants to investigate real estate facts about Falls Church and surrounding communities.  The Guide to Real Estate provides facts regarding what has sold and what is on the market, and many interesting facts that you might not know.  Not to mention, our Guide has quite a few of the fundamentals of living in Falls Church.  As might be expected, most of this is useful for purchasers and sellers, but property owners and renters should also find these tools to be somewhat eye-opening.

Our Broker Will Nesbitt

Realtors in the Shenandoah Valley
Will and Julie on Woodstock Tower

"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

Julie Nesbitt
Julie Nesbitt sold another!

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