Renting a property is one of the best ways to receive regular income. However, if you want to keep all of that income, you’ll need to find reliable tenants. You can come across all sorts of irresponsible and disrespectful tenants who won’t take care of your apartment or a house at all, and potentially even damage the furniture, walls, floors, and leave a mess behind. To avoid renting a property to such people, you’ll need to know your target audience and check their background alongside several other important details. 

Keep the property clean and updated

Keeping your property spick and span is imperative when looking for great tenants. So, the minute you decide to list it, start tidying up. Sweep and umop the floors, scrub the bathroom and kitchen, and dust every room. Vacuum the property thoroughly and inspect the furniture for any damages. Maybe you’ll need to reupholster a sofa or invest in a new bedroom mattress. Evaluate the look of the interior to see if you need to work on any design updates. Maybe you’ll want to change the color of the walls or place new dining room furniture. 

Consider your target tenant group

Do you know who your target audience is? Do you have a type of renter that you’d like to rent your property? For starters, think about the location and condition of your property. If your apartment is near some of the best schools in Odessa, for instance, your likely renter will be a family with kids. Are you located near a university? If you are comfortable with renting a property to students, they can be the target audience too, just as professors or assistants. 

Advertise your listed property online

Once you have tidied the property and found your target audience, it’s time your apartment went online and started attracting potential tenants. The best and most effective way to spread the word about your apartment is to list it online at one of the rental properties’ websites. That way, when people start looking for properties in Texas and look for Odessa apartments for rent, for instance, your property will pop up. To make sure you attract the intended audience, you’ll need to take high-definition photographs where potential tenants can see clearly in what condition your property is. Don’t post misleading photos and make people believe there are three instead of two bedrooms. 

Screen all the candidates

Once a potential tenant schedules a meeting with you and comes to see the property, you can’t expect to sign the lease on the spot. As they look around the apartment, you should be asking them about their previous apartments. Check if this is their first time renting a property or if they’ve lived elsewhere in the city. Maybe the landlord’s name will sound familiar, and you’ll be able to do the background check quickly. If not, note down their personal info and do a candidate screen for a day or so. Googling them is one of the first steps. See if their name pops up in any articles. Maybe you’ve never heard of them, but they’ll have a criminal record. Nowadays, it’s challenging to find reliable tenants, so do your due diligence and make sure you’re considering a trusted person.  

Contact previous landlords

Have you ever considered contacting someone’s previous landlords? It’s one of the best ways to find out if the potential tenant is responsible, neat, and pays attention to keeping the property hazard-free. Ask for the previous landlord’s contact and check the person out. The last thing you need is an irresponsible tenant who forgets to pay the rent on time or likes to throw parties. Not only will that be an inconvenience for you, but for other tenants in the building.

Ask your friends about potential tenants

The process of meeting and vetting potential tenants you found online can be daunting. So, save yourself the trouble of mind-numbing background checks and contact your friends and ask around. Maybe they know a person who is looking to rent an apartment. Alternatively, maybe your friends’ friends have a potential reliable tenant in mind. Spread the word at work, so your co-workers know there’s an available apartment for rent. You never know if your co-workers will need a new place to live or if some of their family members will suddenly need a change of property.

Finding reliable tenants can often be a nightmare. You never know what type of personality you’ll come across, so be careful when choosing your new tenants. Do a thorough background check and ask for all the verifications you need to be sure you’re renting an apartment to a trustworthy person. Ask your friends to help and do your best to create a bespoke image of your property online to attract only great tenants.