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

In Falls Church, our management staff wants to deal with reasonable tenants. Here are some of the traits we seek out.

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

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