WEBVTT - The Easiest Ways to Screen Tenants #044 0:00:00.080 --> 0:00:02.960 Welcome to How to Money. I'm Joel and I'm Matt, 0:00:03.200 --> 0:00:25.479 and today we're discussing the easiest ways to screen tenants. Joel, 0:00:25.520 --> 0:00:28.360 what's going on, man? What's up? Moundy? Just drinking the 0:00:28.520 --> 0:00:31.400 beer and talking money with you. That's what we do 0:00:31.480 --> 0:00:34.640 on the show. Have you ever watched Black Mirror? I haven't, 0:00:34.680 --> 0:00:37.479 but I've heard good things. Yeah. Well, what they got 0:00:37.479 --> 0:00:40.320 going for them is like this dystopian sort of future 0:00:40.600 --> 0:00:44.360 sci fi thing, which I'm super into. I love dystopian stuff. Yeah, 0:00:44.400 --> 0:00:46.280 you know, except that you don't like you don't like 0:00:46.280 --> 0:00:48.519 sci fi though you like you don't like SciFi, you 0:00:48.520 --> 0:00:50.879 don't like comic books. I'm not a huge car but 0:00:50.880 --> 0:00:54.520 I like dystopian though, like I love I love Brave 0:00:54.560 --> 0:00:57.200 New World. I'm all about dystopian future stuff. Dude. Okay, 0:00:57.240 --> 0:00:59.760 So if that's the case you need, you should probably 0:00:59.840 --> 0:01:02.600 check up Black Mirror. It's a little dark. I guess 0:01:02.640 --> 0:01:04.720 it's aptly named. It's like dark Mirror. It's sort of 0:01:04.760 --> 0:01:07.919 like a reflection of society, but like a darker version 0:01:07.959 --> 0:01:10.520 of it, and specifically there is I was listening to 0:01:10.600 --> 0:01:12.960 The Indicator by NPR. Do you ever listen to that podcast? 0:01:13.040 --> 0:01:15.520 I don't. It's it's pretty cool. They take a number, 0:01:15.560 --> 0:01:18.120 break it down sort of how it affects our society, 0:01:18.120 --> 0:01:21.000 our economy, the markets, different things like that. But they're 0:01:21.000 --> 0:01:25.160 talking about how China the country, you know, China part 0:01:25.160 --> 0:01:28.880 of it. They're rolling out this sort of social credit experiment, 0:01:29.000 --> 0:01:33.559 which I found incredibly fascinating. Basically, it's like an uber rating, 0:01:34.160 --> 0:01:36.800 but for yourself, like as a human being, and so 0:01:36.840 --> 0:01:39.560 whatever interactions you have, whether it be with a business 0:01:39.640 --> 0:01:43.040 or like other people, or whether you stop for people 0:01:43.080 --> 0:01:46.199 that are trying to cross the sidewalk, you get rated 0:01:46.319 --> 0:01:49.800 like there's people on the lookout and it's super big brother. Yeah, 0:01:49.840 --> 0:01:52.040 it's based on a thousand points scale, and so like 0:01:52.080 --> 0:01:53.600 that's where you start out, like at the very beginning 0:01:53.600 --> 0:01:57.040 with a thousand points, and you get deducted for stuff 0:01:57.080 --> 0:01:59.160 and so like say you get a traffic ticket, boom, 0:01:59.320 --> 0:02:02.480 get like fifty, it's knocked off, and your social credit 0:02:02.560 --> 0:02:07.280 score affects your ability to take advantage of like luxury products. 0:02:07.320 --> 0:02:09.720 So they've got like this high speed train and they're 0:02:09.720 --> 0:02:13.040 interviewing this guy and he had defaulted on some loans, 0:02:13.080 --> 0:02:16.120 some business loans. He's a big time business owner, millionaire, guy, 0:02:16.200 --> 0:02:19.040 but he defaulted on some loans and because of that, 0:02:19.360 --> 0:02:22.000 he couldn't take the high speed train. Isn't that crazy? 0:02:22.120 --> 0:02:24.480 That is crazy? Yeah. I read a little bit about 0:02:24.520 --> 0:02:27.680 this and it was fascinating and it was kind of 0:02:27.720 --> 0:02:31.040 interesting and cool but also kind of messed up terrible 0:02:31.040 --> 0:02:33.360 at the same time. And I'd heard people talk about 0:02:33.520 --> 0:02:36.840 specifically that one Black Mirror episode where people were kind 0:02:36.840 --> 0:02:41.200 of being ranked right based on their interactions with other people. 0:02:41.240 --> 0:02:44.080 And so, you know, I could turn in a crappy 0:02:44.080 --> 0:02:47.800 podcast performance here and you could like deduct me. It 0:02:47.800 --> 0:02:51.600 would be terrible. It just it was. It seems awful, right, 0:02:51.600 --> 0:02:54.080 but it also it could be where we're headed in 0:02:54.080 --> 0:02:57.080 some regards. Bizarrely fascinating is what it is. And it 0:02:57.120 --> 0:02:59.160 sounds like it is kind of turning into real life 0:02:59.160 --> 0:03:01.960 in China, and so it seems like a democratization of 0:03:02.040 --> 0:03:04.400 sorts of kind of who you are as a person 0:03:04.680 --> 0:03:07.920 in some ways, which, let's be honest, we've talked about 0:03:07.919 --> 0:03:10.160 this before on our Credit Score episode. Right now, it's 0:03:10.200 --> 0:03:13.000 in the hands of these major three bureaus that get 0:03:13.040 --> 0:03:15.080 to decide whether you're a good person, whether your credit 0:03:15.120 --> 0:03:17.880 worthy or not, even without you having signed up to 0:03:17.919 --> 0:03:19.880 be a part of that system. And so in some 0:03:19.919 --> 0:03:22.600 ways this seems a touch better, even though it's like 0:03:22.639 --> 0:03:24.960 creepy and terrible, at the same time, it seems like 0:03:24.960 --> 0:03:27.160 a little bit better than just these three companies having 0:03:27.240 --> 0:03:29.959 all this power they say yes or no um and 0:03:29.960 --> 0:03:33.080 and in this there's a little more democratized element to it. 0:03:33.120 --> 0:03:36.160 But it's still weird as can be. And I don't 0:03:36.200 --> 0:03:38.080 think I look forward to a day where we were 0:03:38.120 --> 0:03:41.000 all rating each other and saying, you know, whether you know, 0:03:41.080 --> 0:03:43.680 Matt held the door for the elderly lady behind him 0:03:44.000 --> 0:03:46.920 or just completely flicked me off in traffic, whatever it is, 0:03:46.960 --> 0:03:48.640 if I was like speeding or something like that. It 0:03:48.680 --> 0:03:50.720 made it sound like that almost anybody could rank or 0:03:50.800 --> 0:03:53.200 rate somebody that they had an interaction with, just as 0:03:53.240 --> 0:03:55.360 casually as walking past the one in the street. And 0:03:56.000 --> 0:03:58.680 like I said, on one hand, that's crazy interesting and 0:03:58.880 --> 0:04:00.920 it's like something I would want to watch, But what 0:04:01.000 --> 0:04:03.160 I want to live that in my real life? You know, 0:04:03.240 --> 0:04:06.480 day to day do I want my kids sort of 0:04:06.520 --> 0:04:09.080 worried about what their scores are? And to an extent, 0:04:09.120 --> 0:04:11.120 that's what we do as adults when it comes to 0:04:11.680 --> 0:04:14.320 to social media. That's definitely one of the downsides of that, 0:04:14.400 --> 0:04:17.080 you know, it's it's terrible from that standpoint. It's terrible 0:04:17.120 --> 0:04:19.880 how social media and technology is pulling us away from 0:04:20.040 --> 0:04:23.800 real human interactions and we're so worried about our scores 0:04:24.080 --> 0:04:27.360 again talking about things being turned into games. On one hand, 0:04:27.360 --> 0:04:31.920 that's amazing because it makes things interesting, and the natural 0:04:31.920 --> 0:04:34.599 byproduct of that is that things are better, whether that 0:04:34.680 --> 0:04:37.400 be oh, you get points for picking up litter or 0:04:37.400 --> 0:04:40.000 something like that. But on the other hand, it's like, oh, man, 0:04:40.120 --> 0:04:43.640 that's a complete substitute for real life and the real 0:04:43.720 --> 0:04:46.480 human interactions that we have with you know, each other, 0:04:46.480 --> 0:04:48.839 our friends, and as well as with our families and 0:04:48.839 --> 0:04:51.320 our kids. Yeah, I think it's super interesting that, like 0:04:51.360 --> 0:04:53.919 we'll stay on top of kind of what's happening with 0:04:54.000 --> 0:04:57.080 these social credit experiments. You know, Like I said, it's 0:04:57.120 --> 0:04:58.560 weird now kind of the way the way it is, 0:04:58.560 --> 0:05:02.640 and it's this seems even weirder, And I'm just not sure, 0:05:02.680 --> 0:05:06.040 you know where we should reside when it comes to 0:05:06.080 --> 0:05:09.600 determining other people's credit worthiness and rating each other based 0:05:09.640 --> 0:05:12.159 on our interactions. I mean, man, are you even allowed 0:05:12.160 --> 0:05:14.960 to have a bad day in a scenario? Yeah, dude, yeah, exactly, 0:05:15.080 --> 0:05:18.120 or feel paid or anger or anything like that, and 0:05:18.600 --> 0:05:20.640 are you able to be real when it comes to 0:05:20.800 --> 0:05:23.360 real life or he's just so concerned with playing the game, 0:05:23.360 --> 0:05:25.640 playing the social credit game that you're just gonna do 0:05:25.720 --> 0:05:27.760 whatever it takes to make sure, you know, don't get 0:05:27.800 --> 0:05:30.560 points deducted. And it's it's crazy. It's worth mentioning there 0:05:30.560 --> 0:05:32.760 too that it was. It's called it's considered an experiment, 0:05:32.920 --> 0:05:35.200 like there's a few cities in China that are doing it. 0:05:35.240 --> 0:05:36.720 Is not like it's something that they're rolling out and 0:05:36.760 --> 0:05:38.400 they say that, oh yeah, this is going to be 0:05:38.440 --> 0:05:42.640 the solution, but it is an incredibly fascinating approach. Well, 0:05:42.680 --> 0:05:45.880 onto our fascinating beer of the day, Matt. Today we 0:05:45.920 --> 0:05:49.560 are drinking a really interesting one by a brewery called 0:05:49.640 --> 0:05:52.320 Variant Brewing and they're just up the road from where 0:05:52.320 --> 0:05:55.800 we live in Atlanta, uh. And this is called Raspberry 0:05:56.120 --> 0:05:59.280 Johnny Kashmir and it's a New England style I p 0:05:59.400 --> 0:06:01.800 a reform mented on three different kinds of fruits. And 0:06:01.839 --> 0:06:04.279 we will tell you what we think about this really 0:06:04.279 --> 0:06:06.640 fascinating beer at the end of the show, are Joel 0:06:06.640 --> 0:06:08.680 you wanna kick it off? Yeah, buddy, So the subject 0:06:08.720 --> 0:06:11.320 at hand for today's show is the easiest way to 0:06:11.360 --> 0:06:14.080 screen tenants, And Matt, you and I are all about 0:06:14.160 --> 0:06:17.800 rental properties, right. We've talked about this in multiple episodes past, 0:06:18.240 --> 0:06:22.440 and we figured we should dedicate a whole show to 0:06:22.680 --> 0:06:27.000 how to screen tenants, because after you purchase a rental property, 0:06:27.360 --> 0:06:30.480 doing a good job screening tenants is the most important 0:06:30.520 --> 0:06:32.640 thing you can do to make sure that that is 0:06:32.680 --> 0:06:35.480 a success for you. And like most new things, it 0:06:35.520 --> 0:06:38.680 can be scarier, daunting, it might feel even intimidating until 0:06:38.720 --> 0:06:42.080 you actually go through that screening process. But like most 0:06:42.080 --> 0:06:44.880 of those things, also it's easier than you think it is. 0:06:45.680 --> 0:06:47.320 That's right, and this is a great episode. Two. If 0:06:47.360 --> 0:06:50.000 you're not into real estate, this is great too if 0:06:50.040 --> 0:06:52.719 you have a primary residence and you're considering, oh, you know, 0:06:52.800 --> 0:06:55.320 maybe someday I could just run out this house. And 0:06:55.839 --> 0:06:58.120 this is a great sort of introduction to one of 0:06:58.160 --> 0:07:01.279 the biggest things that is Joel said, kind of daunting 0:07:01.480 --> 0:07:05.080 or foreign, but also too if you're a renter er man, 0:07:05.640 --> 0:07:07.480 have a listen. Listen to this episode. You'll pick up 0:07:07.480 --> 0:07:10.760 some tips on what it is that your new potential 0:07:10.840 --> 0:07:13.320 landlord is looking for and you know, that will help 0:07:13.360 --> 0:07:16.440 you to snag that property that you got your eye on. Yeah, 0:07:16.480 --> 0:07:18.240 the as a renter, the way you go through this 0:07:18.280 --> 0:07:21.600 process could be the determining factor of whether or not 0:07:21.680 --> 0:07:23.640 you end up, you know, signing a lease on that 0:07:23.720 --> 0:07:26.560 house that you're interested in or condo or apartment, whatever 0:07:26.600 --> 0:07:29.400 it is, or whether you end up playing second fiddle 0:07:29.440 --> 0:07:31.960 to someone that played the game better. And so, you know, 0:07:32.000 --> 0:07:34.720 as a potential tenant, I think, yeah, you can learn 0:07:34.720 --> 0:07:36.760 a lot from this episode two. All right, man. The 0:07:36.800 --> 0:07:39.400 problem is that it can be tempting to skip screen 0:07:39.440 --> 0:07:42.400 tenants or to do a crappy job. Some nice folks 0:07:42.520 --> 0:07:44.760 might show up to see the place to say they 0:07:44.800 --> 0:07:46.480 make a lot of money and they want to rent it, 0:07:46.640 --> 0:07:48.600 so you go ahead and sign the contract, right, wrong, 0:07:48.960 --> 0:07:51.880 that's right. You do not send a contract. Most folks 0:07:51.920 --> 0:07:55.160 out there are probably great and they're telling the truth. 0:07:55.440 --> 0:07:57.280 They might make a ton of money, but that doesn't 0:07:57.360 --> 0:08:00.880 really matter if it's all going towards U. Yeah, and 0:08:00.880 --> 0:08:03.000 there are a lot of people that talk a good game, 0:08:03.200 --> 0:08:05.280 and it's easy to have a nice conversation with someone 0:08:05.400 --> 0:08:08.440 that is super friendly and assume that they are going 0:08:08.480 --> 0:08:11.560 to be a great tenant. But that doesn't always translate, right, Yeah. 0:08:11.560 --> 0:08:13.400 I mean we try to operate from the standpoint of 0:08:13.600 --> 0:08:16.040 thinking that most folks out there are good, you know, 0:08:16.160 --> 0:08:19.760 and but unfortunately we can't operate from that standpoint living 0:08:19.800 --> 0:08:22.960 in a big city where we don't know someone's grandma. 0:08:23.040 --> 0:08:25.600 You know. If I do someone's grandma, i'd be okay. Yeah. 0:08:25.640 --> 0:08:28.280 And the problem is matter that terrible tenants can cause 0:08:28.520 --> 0:08:32.200 major problems for your house with your neighbors, and they 0:08:32.240 --> 0:08:34.720 can bring down not just your house but the entire street. 0:08:35.040 --> 0:08:37.360 And that's why we think it's so important to screen 0:08:37.520 --> 0:08:41.280 potential tenants well. Because you've got a rental property right 0:08:41.280 --> 0:08:43.160 that you've put a lot of time and intention and 0:08:43.200 --> 0:08:45.680 money and effort into, and you want to make sure 0:08:45.720 --> 0:08:48.160 that you are getting someone that is going to care 0:08:48.160 --> 0:08:50.560 about that place and be a good tenant for a 0:08:50.559 --> 0:08:54.640 long time to ensure that viability of this thing that 0:08:54.679 --> 0:08:57.360 you've spent so much of your life and your effort on. 0:08:57.720 --> 0:09:01.040 Kay man, it's incredibly important to screw and so doing 0:09:01.080 --> 0:09:02.800 a great job when it comes to screening your tenants 0:09:02.840 --> 0:09:06.040 can be the difference between the next twelve, eighteen or 0:09:06.040 --> 0:09:08.959 twenty four months being a dream, you know, where you're 0:09:08.960 --> 0:09:11.800 able to build wealth or it being a nightmare where 0:09:11.800 --> 0:09:14.160 you're constantly on call, you're trying to put out fires, 0:09:14.200 --> 0:09:17.960 hopefully not literal fires, but where it's just sort of 0:09:17.960 --> 0:09:20.360 this constant thing that's kind of hanging over your head. Yeah. 0:09:20.360 --> 0:09:22.160 I was just talking to my friend Tim the other day, 0:09:22.160 --> 0:09:24.599 Matt and he has seven rental properties, and he was 0:09:24.640 --> 0:09:28.000 telling me about the beginning of his rental property career. 0:09:28.280 --> 0:09:31.280 He said that literally the first few tenants were terrible 0:09:31.480 --> 0:09:33.240 and he had to vict every single one of them, 0:09:33.679 --> 0:09:36.440 and it was because he didn't screen tenants well. Right, 0:09:36.800 --> 0:09:39.360 So Tim didn't learn his lesson the first time or 0:09:39.400 --> 0:09:42.160 the second time. But I think the time yeah, I 0:09:42.160 --> 0:09:44.760 think they're time around, he got it and you got 0:09:44.760 --> 0:09:47.000 this to him, and since then, you know, Tim hasn't 0:09:47.040 --> 0:09:50.720 had any problem with tenants. And he explained to me 0:09:50.800 --> 0:09:53.760 that he thought, hey, this person is pretty nice, right, 0:09:53.760 --> 0:09:56.160 they seem good in person, they seem good on paper. 0:09:56.480 --> 0:09:58.959 But it turns out that without this screening process that 0:09:58.960 --> 0:10:01.040 we're going to walk you through, it's really easy for 0:10:01.080 --> 0:10:03.600 people to kind of skip by and go from place 0:10:03.600 --> 0:10:05.920 to place, find a new landlord to kind of prey 0:10:05.960 --> 0:10:08.920 on and take advantage of their kindness, um, and then 0:10:09.240 --> 0:10:12.280 stop paying rent ruin your place. There are so many 0:10:12.640 --> 0:10:15.880 terrible options that could come from from not screening attendant well. 0:10:16.240 --> 0:10:18.880 And the thing is Matt too that it's pretty easy 0:10:18.960 --> 0:10:20.720 to screen a tenant well. And we're gonna get into 0:10:20.760 --> 0:10:23.200 that as well. Yeah, So going back to eviction that 0:10:23.280 --> 0:10:25.000 he had to do a few times, they're like, that's 0:10:25.040 --> 0:10:28.040 the most expensive thing that you could possibly do when 0:10:28.080 --> 0:10:30.640 it comes to working with a tenant. An average eviction 0:10:30.840 --> 0:10:35.200 costs anywhere between twenty five to and that is a 0:10:35.280 --> 0:10:38.400 lot of money. Yeah, not to mention the headaches right 0:10:38.640 --> 0:10:41.520 of having to go through that process. And depending on 0:10:41.600 --> 0:10:44.400 the state that you live in, some states have laws 0:10:44.440 --> 0:10:47.440 that favor landlords and others have laws that favor tenants. 0:10:47.720 --> 0:10:49.920 But no matter what state you're in, even if you're 0:10:49.960 --> 0:10:53.400 in a landlord friendly state, if anything, a tenant is 0:10:53.679 --> 0:10:56.080 not only a pain in the butt, it costs you 0:10:56.240 --> 0:10:58.880 time and money at the same time. And that is 0:10:59.000 --> 0:11:02.560 not a good recipe for succeeding in the investment property game. Yeah, 0:11:02.559 --> 0:11:04.120 I mean that's not why you got into it, right, 0:11:04.160 --> 0:11:06.680 It's not like you got into investment properties and Reynolds 0:11:06.679 --> 0:11:08.960 thinking I want to get some tenants in there and 0:11:08.960 --> 0:11:12.240 then after three months, I want to evict them because 0:11:12.280 --> 0:11:14.840 I want them to be terrible. Yeah, now that's not 0:11:14.920 --> 0:11:17.120 at all. Why why you got into that? Uh, that 0:11:17.240 --> 0:11:20.480 as an investment, right, and so avoiding that altogether is 0:11:20.720 --> 0:11:24.199 certainly the number one priority when it comes to screening tenants. 0:11:24.640 --> 0:11:26.360 Just be sure. We'll go ahead and mention this at 0:11:26.360 --> 0:11:29.040 the beginning, but make sure you're following fair housing laws 0:11:29.559 --> 0:11:34.680 very closely. You cannot discriminate based on color, disability, family status. 0:11:35.160 --> 0:11:38.319 I'm gonna say them all, national origin, race, religion, or sex. 0:11:38.880 --> 0:11:41.920 And this means, whether you do that intentionally or not, 0:11:42.160 --> 0:11:44.760 you can get in trouble if the you know, potential 0:11:44.800 --> 0:11:47.640 tenant that you have is able to sort of document 0:11:47.760 --> 0:11:52.320 how maybe you're screening or not running to them versus 0:11:52.320 --> 0:11:55.040 someone else, and the only difference between them and the 0:11:55.080 --> 0:11:57.920 person that you're looking at is one of those protected classes. 0:11:58.320 --> 0:12:00.880 I remember, dude, early on families at US. That's one 0:12:00.960 --> 0:12:04.400 that surprised me because I remember thinking early on that like, oh, yeah, 0:12:04.400 --> 0:12:06.360 it might be nice to have a younger family in there, 0:12:06.880 --> 0:12:08.840 but like, you can't do that at all. She can't 0:12:08.840 --> 0:12:12.480 discriminate against the single people. Yeah, exactly. From an investors standpoint, 0:12:12.559 --> 0:12:16.040 you think, oh a family stability, You think, okay, they're 0:12:16.040 --> 0:12:19.200 gonna be here for a while. But yeah, a friend 0:12:19.200 --> 0:12:21.920 of mine luckily mentioned to me early on that like, 0:12:21.960 --> 0:12:24.920 oh no, you you can't say this would be a 0:12:24.920 --> 0:12:28.040 great house for a young family, because you start getting 0:12:28.120 --> 0:12:31.240 to this sort of slippery slope, this this gray area 0:12:31.360 --> 0:12:34.080 where someone could point to that and then say, oh no, 0:12:34.400 --> 0:12:38.000 you're trying to market that towards families. It says right there, 0:12:38.200 --> 0:12:41.600 great for young families versus you know, like a single 0:12:41.640 --> 0:12:44.320 person that might want to move in. So make sure 0:12:44.440 --> 0:12:47.440 that you are steering clear of those protected classes and 0:12:47.440 --> 0:12:50.840 that you're making your property available to everyone. Yes. So, 0:12:50.880 --> 0:12:53.680 now that we've kind of seen how expensive in eviction 0:12:53.840 --> 0:12:57.000 can be for a landlord and how much headache it 0:12:57.040 --> 0:12:59.760 could be the months of dealing with law enforcement and 0:12:59.800 --> 0:13:02.880 a tenant that refuses to cooperate, let's cover the nitty 0:13:02.880 --> 0:13:07.080 gritty of how to go about screening screening well so 0:13:07.120 --> 0:13:13.720 that you can avoid those problem tenants right after the break, 0:13:19.520 --> 0:13:21.920 all right, Matt, So back to the break, we promise 0:13:21.960 --> 0:13:24.880 we talked about the stages of screening, and my favorite 0:13:24.960 --> 0:13:29.559 stage of screening is allowing tenants to pre screen themselves 0:13:29.559 --> 0:13:33.600 effectively by putting the requirements that you have for potential 0:13:33.600 --> 0:13:36.560 tenants in the listing of your property. Yeah, and so 0:13:36.600 --> 0:13:39.520 it helps to put your minimum credit score and income 0:13:39.640 --> 0:13:43.480 amount required to rank your place inside the body of 0:13:43.480 --> 0:13:47.000 the listing because people that don't meet those requirements just 0:13:47.280 --> 0:13:50.000 oftentimes won't reach out in the first place when they 0:13:50.040 --> 0:13:52.839 read that in your listing. Yeah, they just need not apply, right, 0:13:52.880 --> 0:13:55.960 You're just wasting everyone's time if you see, or it 0:13:56.000 --> 0:13:58.280 doesn't even have to be income based or a credit 0:13:58.280 --> 0:14:01.600 score based. It can even be a no pets allowed. 0:14:01.960 --> 0:14:04.760 And if you've got five dogs will shoot, just skip 0:14:04.840 --> 0:14:07.800 right over that list because you're just gonna waste your time, 0:14:07.840 --> 0:14:10.440 and you're gonna waste the manager or the landlord's time. 0:14:10.760 --> 0:14:12.760 It's just a way for everyone to save time and 0:14:12.800 --> 0:14:15.400 to keep moving on with life. And so on that note, 0:14:15.440 --> 0:14:18.320 the next step is scheduling showings. And so I don't 0:14:18.320 --> 0:14:21.440 personally do open house showings, Joe, do you know I 0:14:21.480 --> 0:14:24.480 schedule each one individually? Awesome? Yeah, exactly, That's that's how 0:14:24.520 --> 0:14:26.240 it rolled to. And so during the showings, you want 0:14:26.240 --> 0:14:28.280 to ask yourself, do they show up when they say 0:14:28.360 --> 0:14:30.680 they're going to you want to note that if they 0:14:30.680 --> 0:14:33.080 show up late or even are a no show and 0:14:33.080 --> 0:14:36.240 don't communicate that that's a bad start in one way 0:14:36.280 --> 0:14:38.920 to weed out the folks that are just kinda may 0:14:39.120 --> 0:14:40.760 like those aren't the kind of tendance that you want 0:14:40.760 --> 0:14:43.120 to have. It's also a great idea to do a 0:14:43.240 --> 0:14:45.800 pre interview here while they're they're looking at the place. 0:14:45.920 --> 0:14:49.280 You can ask questions about their employments, whether or not 0:14:49.360 --> 0:14:51.960 they smoke, what their income might be, if they have 0:14:52.000 --> 0:14:55.440 any pets. Some folks allow dogs but not cats, or 0:14:55.560 --> 0:14:57.920 vice versa. You can do all these things even before 0:14:57.920 --> 0:15:02.000 they apply again, so save yourself time. There's no sense 0:15:02.000 --> 0:15:04.080 in reading through an application and starting to make the 0:15:04.120 --> 0:15:07.760 calls or sending out the emails when you know there's 0:15:07.800 --> 0:15:10.960 certain requirements where that possible tenant doesn't meet. Yeah, and 0:15:11.000 --> 0:15:14.800 I can't stress enough this part of the phase where 0:15:15.000 --> 0:15:18.040 you're talking to a perspective tenant. You're emailing back and 0:15:18.080 --> 0:15:20.840 forth with them, You're setting up a time to come 0:15:20.920 --> 0:15:23.080 and view the house or the apartment or whatever it 0:15:23.080 --> 0:15:25.880 may be. You know, those email conversations will tell you 0:15:25.960 --> 0:15:28.920 a lot. You know, how they use language, how promptly 0:15:29.000 --> 0:15:32.280 they reply, what sort of tone they use in their emails? 0:15:32.960 --> 0:15:35.880 And then in person, right when you finally meet that person, 0:15:36.080 --> 0:15:38.680 do they arrive on time? How do they present themselves 0:15:38.800 --> 0:15:41.800 in person as well? Those sorts of things will make 0:15:41.840 --> 0:15:44.760 a major impact on how you view this person and 0:15:44.800 --> 0:15:47.920 whether you want them living in the investment property that 0:15:47.960 --> 0:15:50.640 you own or not. And then on top of that, Matt, 0:15:50.680 --> 0:15:52.920 like you mentioned, yeah, some of those pre interview questions, 0:15:53.240 --> 0:15:56.480 you'll get a different answer out of people, and oftentimes 0:15:57.040 --> 0:16:00.440 a much more truthful perspective if you ask those questions 0:16:00.480 --> 0:16:03.640 in person. Via email, it's really easy to present yourself 0:16:03.680 --> 0:16:05.840 in one light and make yourself seem better than you 0:16:05.880 --> 0:16:08.920 actually are. But in person, when you ask those questions, 0:16:08.960 --> 0:16:12.160 just in a nonchalant way, sometimes right, not grilling people, 0:16:12.360 --> 0:16:14.280 not putting them under the coplight and asking them the 0:16:14.280 --> 0:16:17.880 tough questions, but just nonchalantly bringing some of these questions up. 0:16:18.440 --> 0:16:20.400 If you notice a lot of hemming and hawing or 0:16:20.440 --> 0:16:22.120 not even knowing some of the answers to some of 0:16:22.120 --> 0:16:24.880 these questions, that's a really good way to know that 0:16:24.960 --> 0:16:28.280 you are talking with someone who might not be a 0:16:28.320 --> 0:16:31.240 great tenant. Yeah man, Or even something as silly as 0:16:31.680 --> 0:16:34.200 what kind of condition their car is when they pull up. 0:16:34.240 --> 0:16:36.160 You know, if they pull up in something that looks 0:16:36.160 --> 0:16:38.480 like it's in terrible shape. And now I'm not talking 0:16:38.480 --> 0:16:40.840 about a beater right where you're you've got a great, 0:16:40.840 --> 0:16:43.080 dependable car and it's just kind of old. But I'm 0:16:43.120 --> 0:16:45.720 talking like stuff is busted on it, Like there's a 0:16:45.760 --> 0:16:47.920 mirror hanging from the side, like on the car that 0:16:47.960 --> 0:16:50.280 got taken out by like a telephone pole. Fast food 0:16:50.320 --> 0:16:52.760 rappers spilling out onto the sidewalks like they open the door. 0:16:52.800 --> 0:16:54.600 That's not a great sign of how they're going to 0:16:54.720 --> 0:16:58.080 take care of your property. So it's all these non 0:16:58.240 --> 0:17:01.200 verbal sort of cus of well that goes into this 0:17:01.680 --> 0:17:04.800 stage where you're scheduling showings and meeting folks in person. 0:17:04.960 --> 0:17:07.320 So already we've talked about tenant screening, right, and we've 0:17:07.359 --> 0:17:09.440 said that there are two ways that you could have 0:17:09.520 --> 0:17:13.360 already screened really well, right just in your listing, your 0:17:13.359 --> 0:17:16.040 pre screening people by the requirements you list out, and 0:17:16.040 --> 0:17:19.440 then you're screening via email and in person as you're 0:17:19.440 --> 0:17:22.200 getting to know these perspective tenants. That meant that first 0:17:22.240 --> 0:17:24.679 initial pre screening, the next step that you're going to 0:17:24.800 --> 0:17:28.119 want to enact when it comes to tenant screening is 0:17:28.200 --> 0:17:33.119 an initial application, and so that application is where potential 0:17:33.119 --> 0:17:36.719 tenants fill out their personal information, basic stuff, and what 0:17:36.760 --> 0:17:40.720 we're interested in here is their tenant history, right the 0:17:40.800 --> 0:17:44.600 previous five years of rental history with landlord names and 0:17:44.640 --> 0:17:47.960 contact information. And I'll tell you what, Matt, I feel 0:17:47.960 --> 0:17:51.880 like this is probably the easiest way to be able 0:17:51.880 --> 0:17:55.080 to identify a poor tenant. If you can call and 0:17:55.200 --> 0:17:57.960 ask their previous landlord, you know, did they pay rent 0:17:58.000 --> 0:18:00.439 on time? Would you rent to them again? This is 0:18:00.440 --> 0:18:02.720 one of the most important indicators that will help you 0:18:02.760 --> 0:18:05.399 note whether or not this is a reliable tenant that 0:18:05.440 --> 0:18:08.200 you're gonna want to leash your property to. Yeah. Man. 0:18:08.240 --> 0:18:10.920 In my book, this is pretty much the number one 0:18:11.280 --> 0:18:13.600 thing that I kind of go off of is if 0:18:13.640 --> 0:18:15.680 they have been great tenants in the past. I'm even 0:18:15.680 --> 0:18:18.919 willing to take applicants that have a worst credit score 0:18:19.560 --> 0:18:21.439 or that might have a lot of debt. But you 0:18:21.440 --> 0:18:24.679 know what, if their past several years of tenant history 0:18:24.720 --> 0:18:26.680 and I'm if I'm able to talk to their landlords 0:18:26.720 --> 0:18:30.400 and they always pay no matter what, man, that sets 0:18:30.480 --> 0:18:33.360 an incredible track record for them. That tells me that 0:18:33.440 --> 0:18:35.640 you know what, even though they might not have their 0:18:35.720 --> 0:18:38.240 financial game in tip top shape when it comes to 0:18:38.240 --> 0:18:40.960 their credit score or man, they just spend a lot 0:18:40.960 --> 0:18:42.399 of money and they've got a lot of debt, that 0:18:42.480 --> 0:18:45.600 still tells me that, well, they still make rent payments 0:18:45.600 --> 0:18:47.960 a priority and there's just a lot to be learned 0:18:47.960 --> 0:18:51.520 from previous landlords that they have rented from in the past. Yeah. 0:18:51.560 --> 0:18:55.879 Another important checkmark on the list of that initial application 0:18:55.960 --> 0:18:58.040 that you're gonna want a perspective tenant to fill out 0:18:58.160 --> 0:19:01.800 is their employment information. In particular, it's best to speak 0:19:01.800 --> 0:19:04.560 with their direct supervisor if at all possible, or if 0:19:04.600 --> 0:19:06.399 they work for a bigger company, you might need to 0:19:06.400 --> 0:19:09.439 settle for talking to someone in HR, but that conversation 0:19:09.600 --> 0:19:14.240 or email exchange with their supervisor can be really beneficial. 0:19:14.520 --> 0:19:18.080 You can get little clues from how their supervisor talks 0:19:18.119 --> 0:19:21.600 about them or you know, whether they give a glowing 0:19:21.680 --> 0:19:25.840 review quickly or um, whether they're very brief in their responses. 0:19:26.480 --> 0:19:29.000 And I know that that's helped me make decisions. Um 0:19:29.119 --> 0:19:33.480 Us they work here, I believe they come in the 0:19:33.480 --> 0:19:36.520 door sometimes. That's all I can say. Yeah, so you 0:19:36.600 --> 0:19:39.000 do get a lot from that email exchange. UM and 0:19:39.040 --> 0:19:42.240 It's worth noting that you should do all of these 0:19:42.240 --> 0:19:45.040 things because you might not get a great picture from 0:19:45.040 --> 0:19:48.080 just doing one, but all of these things combined, you know, 0:19:48.160 --> 0:19:50.640 our pieces of the puzzle that put together the entire 0:19:50.680 --> 0:19:53.239 picture of whether this person is going to be a 0:19:53.240 --> 0:19:55.200 good tenant or a bad one, and some other things 0:19:55.200 --> 0:19:57.200