Tenants: Experienced Landlords Have Heard It All. Don’t Talk In Negatives

Good Landlords do 80% of their screening just by listening to you. They will ask a question and see your response. They may ask the same question and see if your response changes or if it seems to hit a bad chord in you.

For example, I often ask, “What has your experiences with Landlords been in the past.”

If the perspective tenant gets defensive, I will go into depth a bit more and later in the conversation ask, “Did you do something about your Landlord problem?”

This conversation tells me a lot. It verifies information and truths. It sees where the negative emotion is hidden.

The other thing people inadvertently do is complain about something that they are actually doing. I had a guy that was so adamant about not being in a building if there was ANY drug problems. Upon a bit of screening, he ended up being a severe alcoholic and I found out later O.D.ed on crack!

If a tenant tells me a Landlord kicked them out of their current place, I know I am only getting half a story but would not consider this a serious rental prospect!

So what is the lesson for tenants? Talk in positive terms. Landlords would rather hear someone say, “How are the rest of the tenants in the building?” instead of “are there drug dealers around here?”.

For Landlords the lesson is ask as many questions as is necessary. Doesn’t matter the question, just look for the emotion it creates. I used to base my hiring decisions off the question, “Tell me about something you are proud of”. This one question reveals volumes about someone.

The Best Offer Experiment

I’ve been having a bit of difficulty renting my own home. This is odd as most houses are renting within days. I began to ask myself why?

The main reason is because on the higher end properties, it's a RENTER’S MARKET (lower end, Landlords are getting multiple rental offers).

This means that a decent tenant can pretty well tell the Landlord a rental amount and they either take it or they can go find 10 other Landlords that will.

I have turned down about 10 offers as I knew the applicant could not afford the price. In other words they should be renting a house that is about $200 to $400 cheaper per month.

I had two decent prospects but they were playing the waiting game (a typical business strategy).

It got to the point where I had to do something -- so I advertised "For Rent. Best Offer."

But I had these stipulations to enclose with the OFFER:

• Bring a deposit cheque (first, last month’s rent).


• Bring a proof of income letter.


• Bring references.

The reason I did this was because there are three types of people that look at a rental:

1. A person that just wants to know if you will actually go down to an obscene amount for the rental (like $700 inclusive instead of $1200 non-inclusive).
2. A potential renter that can ALMOST afford, will pay near market value but has something wrong with their application.
3. A potential renter that can more than afford it but wants a deal.

(NOTE: Notice I said “potential renter” for the last two and not first. The reason is most tire kickers are merely feeling the market out. Which is good as you get an idea of current market values this way).

I advertised an Open House and quickly received about 10 emails and 6 calls. Some wanted to see it previous to me showing anyone else. Here is the breakdown of each category:

Tire Kickers/Dreamers: 9 (56%)
Hopefuls: 4 (31%)
Deal seekers: 3 (19%)

The interesting thing I noticed was the response was triple the amount a typical ad would produce. And a typical ad would produce about the same percentages as above. So I reached more of my target (somewhere between #2 and #3 above) in a much shorter time. And I had the #3s excited about seeing my house (which places me as a Landlord in a better bargaining position).

The one that showed came with all credentials, letter, etc. and it rented.

The lesson to tenants is to be ready. I don’t know any Landlord that would not listen to lower reasonable offers if the tenant has a cheque and letters at the ready.

Happy renting!

Good Tenants? What Does It Mean?

Each Landlord I meet tells me the same thing:

“Find me a good tenant!”

But what exactly does this mean?

To a novice Landlord this means:

1. Has perfect credit.


2. Someone with a high-paying job.


3. Low occupancy (tenant will not overcrowd unit)


4. Someone without a pet.


5. A non-smoker


6. Never been convicted of a crime.


7. Is not a nefarious character or associates with said characters.


8. Never been served by a previous Landlord.


9. Has never asked a unit be repaired.


10. Paints the place for the Landlord.
    etc.

The reality is that this tenant is VERY rare. And if I did come across one, they usually garnish a rental reduction on the order of 20 to 40%, which a typical Landlord is not willing to reduce to.

People have pets, if someone has perfect credit they likely qualify to own a home and know this (especially in the current buyers market). People have kids, smokers smoke outside, some have had experiences with bad Landlords. In other words, there is always something.

Which is why most experienced Landlords define a good tenant as:

1. Someone that pays on time all the time.


2. Someone that does not destroy the place.


3. Some that expects the same from the Landlord (repairs are done quickly).

As an example, I have seen tenants that were messy as hell, did drugs on a regular basis, played the home theater a bit too loud…but paid the rent on time each month without question and when they returned the unit it was spotless.

I have seen Landlords make $1000 cashflow a month in the WORST areas of the city because they understand that you can fix a hole in the wall but it is VERY hard to find a consistently paying tenant.

John’s Advice

Landlords: If you want a good tenant, be a good Landlord and attract the best.

Tenants: If you want a good place and good Landlord, make your rent the top priority of your finances. NEVER miss the rent. Return the unit BETTER than you got it. Do this and Landlords will line up to get you into your next place.

Renter’s Advice: Top 10

1. Search for your new home online before burning up tanks of gas.


2. Always be on time for your appointments.


3. When talking with a potential Landlord, be positive. Do not talk negatives.


4. Have a cheque, proof of income letter and references ready with all rental offers. You can even have a credit report ready as it is usually free for you to run (visit: http://www.equifax.com/home/).


5. Picture yourself in the rental. Don’t think of it as a rental — think of it as your new home.


6. ALWAYS pay your rent on time and do not holdback rent without the Landlord and Tenant Tribunal’s written approval.


7. Budget your rental amount. Usually 25 to 40% of your income is what you can realistically afford (non-inclusive rentals).


8. Try to negotiate with the Landlord for concessions if they will not go lower on the rent. For example, ask them to pay for paint. Get it in writing with deadlines.


9. Find a rental agent to do the legwork for you. They have access to much more resources than you and most do not charge anything for this service.


10. Do not misrepresent yourself on an application or lease. If you have lost your job at Ford, don’t say you work for Ford. Be honest and trust that a Landlord will work with your circumstances.

Tenants: Be On Time for Your Showings. Find Out Why.

One of the most common problems a Landlord faces is late or cancelled appointments or no-shows. This is why the my most important test of a potential tenant is, “Are they on time for an appointment?”

Why?

Because someone that does not value people’s time will not value getting their rent paid on time.

I can tell you this advice after placing over a hundred tenants. This screening method works 90% to 100% of the time.

The first time I figured this out was with a student that I placed. She kept rescheduling or just not showing up for showings. And when she showed up she was in such a rush that I had no time to screen her with typical questions (this should have been my first clue of a potential problem).

She ended up renting a place and again was postponing getting the deposit to me. She figured her time was worth more than mine and I should be running around the city to collect this. The upshot is she was late on EVERY payment and I had to attend the property an average of three times to collect. And to top it off, she cut her lease 4 months early.

Lesson: Be on time for all showings. If you are going to be late, CALL! Value a Landlord’s time as you would value your own.

Landlord Advice: I call to confirm appointments. I will wait 15 minutes for a potential tenant at which time I will call them. If they forgot about the appointment, are not reachable or are running more than 10 more minutes, I CANCEL and will not show them anymore property. Each appointment can cost as much as $50 to arrange and I am not in the habit of throwing time and money away! Neither should you.

Pets: Landlords and Tenants Face-off

One of the biggest Landlord and Tenant issues I deal with daily is the subject of pets. About 7 out of 10 potential tenants that call me have a pet. The size and the type of pet vary. The face-off comes in the fact that 8 out of 10 Landlords tell me they do not want renters with pets and maybe one or two are open to pets but only small pets.

Legal issues aside, this is a huge problem.

1) Landlords are not open to 70% of the rental market by telling me this.

2) It is a renter's market but tenants have to realize the problem pets create for Landlords.

Let's look at both sides and a possible solution for both Landlord and Tenant.

Background. I have seen, smelled and cleaned many apartments and houses that the renter's pet(s) caused thousands in damage and in some cases created severe allergy problems for future tenants. In some cases, it has taken 2 years to get the smell out of the floors because of a neglectful pet owner.

Each potential tenant tells me that their pet is liter trained, just a small dog, quiet, etc. This maybe the case but again think from the Landlord side. If they let a small dog in for example and it does destroy a door or ruin a carpet, what recourse do they have? They cannot take it from the last month's rental deposit. They can try to collect it from the tenant but this sometimes creates bad blood.

My suggestion and one I am going to recommend to Landlords from now on is to take a "PET DEPOSIT" of something on the order of a few hundred dollars to cover potential expenses.

This is certainly a fair deal for pet owners and Landlords alike.

Current Pet Statitics and Issues:

http://www.legermarketing.com/documents/spclm/020617eng.pdf

Private Exchange's Call to Action!

Our rental service begins. The calls pour in from Landlords looking for help -- looking to try something none of the tried rental methods seem to be working!

John Adams
Rental Systems Expert
Private Exchange Rental Division
rentitnow@hotmail.com

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www.windsorstar.com/Entertainment/Business+Beat/1088661/story.html

Business Beat

By Dave Hall, Windsor StarDecember 18, 2008

New service matches landlords, tenants

With Windsor's apartment vacancy rate hovering in the mid-teens, a new service has been launched to help match landlords with prospective tenants.

Offered through the Private Exchange, the service will help both parties save time and effort by co-ordinating viewing appointments and reducing the number of phone calls it normally takes to set up site visits.

"We're able to show tenants five or six apartments in one day and save them the time it would normally take to contact each landlord," said John Adams, whose company has been merged with the Private Exchange.

Adams, a Windsorite, returned home two years ago and opened his own company catering to student rentals before joining the Private Exchange.

The cost is free to tenants while landlords pay a flat commission fee once their properties are rented.

"With our system, a renter saves having to phone multiple landlords, set up appointments and negotiate leases," said Sandy Armeland, president of the Private Exchange. "Landlords save themselves the headache of having to market their property, show their property, qualify tenants and negotiate leases."

The service will also help homeowners rent their properties if they encounter problems finding buyers.
"We can help them find tenants and help them with the rental process the same way we would an experienced landlord," Armeland said.

For further information on the service, contact the Private Exchange at 519-966-5565 or visit www.privateexchange.com/rentals.