Property management, whether it be for a 500 unit apartment complex or a single unit rental house, has become more important than ever in these difficult economical times.
This article is shared by Bellevue, Seattle and Redmond Washington Property Management.
The real estate bust has created literally millions of foreclosures, forcing families to vacate their home. These people just did not disappear, they still needed shelter, a basic human necessity, so where did they go?
Many were forced to move in with family, some are literally homeless and millions went to renting a house or apartment. In fact, the current financial advise is for people to rent housing instead of buying even if they can. That is another story in which we will not delve into.
So there are theoretically more renters than rental units available, the old supply and demand economic facts. This is a two sided sword for the property management professional, as with a glut of renters available, vacancies will plummet. However, there always has been and always will be dead beats bouncing from one rental situation to another, leaving a trail of debts and trashed units in their wake. This number will increase, but the main worry is, how do you weed them out from the honest, down on their luck applicants?
There is of course the standard renters application which provides basic financial and personal information on which decisions of whether to rent or not are made. However, these applications and the information they collect is not really as valid as they once were in determining a current renters qualifications.
For example, a bankruptcy on a persons record was a red flag which denied the application, required a larger deposit or indicated further investigation be performed.
Unfortunately, today the Federal bankruptcy courts are overwhelmed with record numbers of people filing personal bankruptcy. The majority of these people have never had a problem or a history of not paying their debts, but they are casualties of the recent economic collapse.
Another example is late payment records on their credit reports. Again, the economic downturn, unemployment and criminally high interest rates required by credit card companies have people choosing between paying the MasterCard or buying food. This choice is an obvious one.
So what is a property manager to do embroiled in this mess? The renters application process should continue as it will stream line applicants who would qualify no matter what.
The second feature is the application will help identify the stages of problem or questionable items which needs to be addressed. However, the benefit in decision making just about grinds to a halt here, and the property manager must begin using people skills and gut instincts on who to rent to.
It may be difficult to do, but all emotion has to be removed from the process. As caring human beings that can be much easier said than done, but you are not the Salvation Army whose goal is to help the needy. Do a poor job of collecting rents and you will need the services of the Salvation Army because you will be without a job.
Here is a few suggestions on how to screen and read potential renters who are not sparkling examples on the renter application.
Pay particular attention to the personal hygiene of themselves and their children. Like the old saying goes Just because you are poor does not mean you have to be dirty. If an applicant is dirty it indicates they have no self respect, and if they do not respect themselves, they will not respect you or your property.
Question if they can afford a higher rental deposit. This will not totally eliminate them, but if they reply yes, it probably indicates they are financially stable, but were collateral damage to the economic situation.
Talk to them as a person not as an interrogator. Notice their language and how they express themselves, as a decent command of the English language indicates a certain amount of education. It is not a stead fast rule, but higher educated people are normally more responsible when it comes to debt obligations.
The rest of the decision will be gut feelings and you will win a few and you will lose a few.
Tags: seattle property management, commercial property management bellevue