The Selma Sun recently shared some pretty daunting news: Alabama has the fourth-highest rental vacancy rate in the nation. If you're struggling to keep your rental units occupied here in North Alabama, you're not alone.
In a tough rental market, there's one thing to strive for, and that's lease renewals. First, you need to start with tenants you can rely on. In this guide, we'll talk about how to improve tenant placement by:
- Verifying income
- Checking credit history
- Checking criminal background history
- Assessing rental history
Read on to learn more about what these four steps entail and boost your rental occupancy strategies.
1. Verifying Income
One of the most important things to check before signing on a new tenant is their income. Most landlords ask tenants to self-report their monthly or annual income, but we encourage you to take it a step further and verify their earnings.
A common way to verify income is to ask for a paystub or W-2. As the number of freelance and self-employed renters increases, Rocket Lawyer suggests asking for a bank statement or 1099 if these aren't available.
2. Getting a Credit Report
Income isn't the only thing to consider during tenant placement. Collecting a credit report can tell you more about a tenant's reliability when it comes to making on-time payments.
A good credit score is considered anything above 670. You should also look at a tenant's debt-income ratio to make sure they have enough financial flexibility to cover the cost of rent.
3. Investigating Criminal Records
Typical tenant screening methods involve collecting criminal history reports. Before you do, make sure you're familiar with the process of running a criminal background check in Alabama.
For example, you must make sure applicants provide informed consent before you request a criminal background check. You must also apply this strategy consistently. If you're only checking the criminal history of certain applicants, you could be accused of discrimination.
4. Assessing Rental History
It's important for all landlords to have an eviction plan. However, you should also take precautions to prevent evictions in the first place. To assess an applicant's rental history, make sure to:
- Ask for contact info of previous landlords
- Collect two-three character references from first-time renters
- Assess credit reports for past evictions
- Talk to previous landlords about any issues they had during the applicant's tenancy
The goal is to find a tenant who doesn't have a long history of late rent payments, property damage, or evictions. Not only does this indicate reliability, but it also sets you up to seek more desirable lease renewals.
Get Tenant Placement and Eviction Protection from Stutts
In the face of high vacancy rates, North Alabama landlords need to take a creative approach and implement tenant retention ideas. Tenant placement sets you up to find great tenants that can pay rent, respect your lease, and even sign a renewal.
Stutts Properties manages the biggest North Alabama portfolio of rental properties. As we've built this portfolio, we've developed time-tested methods to place great tenants. We'll even provide eviction protection if our tenant placement strategy fails.
Contact us to schedule a free consultation and learn more about our property management services.
