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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 West Falls Church tenants

In West Falls Church, our management staff prefers to deal with dependable tenants. Here are a few of the traits we expect.

  1. A renter 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 has integrity. A tenant does not sneak in a co-renter or pet.
  3. A tenant is fastidious. A tenant does not attract pests such as rodents and bugs.
  4. A tenant does not destroy systems.
  5. A tenant is courteous and easy to get along with. A renter knows the difference between a property manager and a hotel concierge.
  6. A tenant doesn't annoy neighbors.
  7. A renter complains at appropriate times. 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 tenant doesn't ask to upgrade functioning systems. A renter 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 rental.
  10. A renter is looking for a rental term that is as long as the real estate investor wants to rent the property.

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

 

Our Five Step Process

Fair Housing Laws and our conscience dictates that we do not judge people in West Falls Church based upon appearance.  Experience has taught us that appearances can be very decieving. We do however assess applicants based upon their history and their actions. If a applicant is rude to us from the start, they will probably be troublesome as tenants. If a lies, we will expect them to be unreliable as a tenant.  If a has troubles finding fundsfor background fees and the first month of rent, we will expect that same potential tenant will have problems during the lease.

But even if every appearance initially is promising we still check the background of each person with a complete background check. Every potential renter 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 West 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

West Falls Church Rental Management Resources

Our recommendation

After the background check is complete we make a recommendation to the owner based upon our experience as property managers in West Falls Church and the information which we have verified. Ultimately the owner 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 local real estate market?

Our Guide to Real Estate is a helpful resource for everyone who wants to review important real estate information about West Falls Church and surrounding areas.  The Guide to Real Estate includes information about what has sold and what is on the market, and a few interesting facts that you might not be aware of.  And, our Guide spotlights many of the aspects of life in West Falls Church.  Definitely, most of this is helpful for buyers and sellers, but owners and tenants will probably also find the facts to be very useful.

Our Broker Will Nesbitt

Will Nesbitt Julie Nesbitt
Will Nesbitt Julie 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

Realtor 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