(703)765-0300

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

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

What we seek in Northern Virginia tenants

In Northern Virginia, Nesbitt Realty prefers to deal with reliable tenants. Here are a few of the traits we seek out.

  1. A tenant 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 trustworthy. A tenant does not sneak in a co-tenant or pet.
  3. A renter is reasonably clean. A tenant does not attract pests like rodents and bugs.
  4. A renter does not damage the home.
  5. A tenant is courteous and nice to work with. A tenant knows the difference between a property manager and a hotel concierge.
  6. A tenant doesn't bother neighbors.
  7. A tenant complains when appropriate. tenants that don't report maintenance issues cost property owners money and cause head-aches for property managers.
  8. A renter doesn't complain when it's not appropriate. This means that a tenant 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 renter does not smoke in the rental.
  10. A tenant is looking for a lease that is as long as the landlord wants to rent the property.

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

 

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 potential renters based upon their reputation and their actions. If a applicant is rude to our managers from the outset, they will probably be rude as tenants. If a is dishonest, we can expect them to be dishonest as a tenant.  If a has difficulty finding fundsfor background fees and the first month of rent, we will expect that same potential renter will have troubles during the lease.

But even if every action initially is promising we still check the background of every potential renter with a full background check. Every person and occupant must provide a government-issue photo identification. From there, as property managers 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 finished we make a recommendation to the property owner based upon our experience as property 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.

Should you understand more about our area?

Nesbitt Realty's Guide to Real Estate is a free tool for everyone who wants to review important real estate information about Northern Virginia and neighboring areas.  The Guide to Real Estate provides information regarding what has sold and what is for sale, as well as a few compelling facts that you may not know.  Furthermore, our Guide highlights many of the elements of life in Northern Virginia.  As a matter of course, most of this is interesting for buyers and sellers, but owners and tenants should also find this data to be very eye-opening.

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

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