Are you a first time real estate investor in commercial property? If yes, then you must be aware of the high rate of tenant lawsuits that landlords face when trying to evict tenants. It happens in all parts of the country when the screening process is not tough and through. But there is less likelihood of these irksome lawsuits or even evictions if your property management company in Palm Coast follows rigorous screening of the tenants. 

Everest Property Management Company has a rigid screening process in place. They have a checklist that gathers all information from the applicants before deciding whether to allow them to live in the property of the client or not. Normally tenants behave nicely and also pay their rents on time. It is only a few, a minuscule percentage of the total number of tenants that create problems for their landlords. Some of these tenants stop paying rents and also damage the property to cause severe losses to their landlords. Trying to screen applicants on your own can be very time consuming and a big headache. You need the expertise and experience of a respected Flagler property management company to make the screening of tenants foolproof for you. 

1.     Items essential in the application form

Your screening of tenants starts from the evaluation of the information provided by them in the application form. Take a look at the following items that mean that your screening procedure is on the right track.

• Income of the applicant
• His employment history
• His credit references
• Social security number
• DL number
• Evictions in the past (if any)
• Brief rental history

Going by the information provided under these points, you can easily screen good and bad tenants to safeguard yourself from future troubles. 

2.     Analyzing the information provided by applicant

For a new landlord, the information provided by the applicants seems to be overwhelming. It is very difficult to decipher the meaning behind the words even though he can know much by looking at the facts. This is where the expertise of your Palm Coast property management company comes into play. Their members are trained and experienced to sense trouble whenever they see an applicant being slow in his repayments in the past. They not only go for a review of the credit report presented by an applicant but also conduct a criminal background check to have a clear picture of the applicant in front of them.

3.     Income levels that are bare minimum

Your rent is low and you think that all tenants would happily and easily pay their monthly rents. But how do you make sure that the tenant pays the rent without any fail? Well, a tenant whose 50% income goes into paying rent will make payments smoothly as long as he does not face an emergency (medical or financial). This is the reason you have to specify in your form how much income is the bare minimum to be cleared in the screening process. 

4.     Go by the proof and not by the words

Being a landlord is tough, especially those who are emotional and can be easily blackmailed emotionally. If an applicant says his income is more than a thousand dollars, ask for his salary stub and never take his word. If someone is not salaried but self employed, it becomes all the more difficult for a landlord. Let those who do screening of tenants day in and day out handle this challenge if you think it is too much of an headache for you. Even if you are not allowed to discriminate applicants on the basis of their source of income, you must at least make it clear to them how much income is the bare minimum to become a tenant in your property. 

5.     Rental history

It is common experience that to understand the future behavior of an individual, peep into his past. If you are unsure about an applicant even after going through his records like income and credit score, his rental history will tell you a lot. Did he default in his rental payments in the past? Did he indulge in quarrels with neighbors or the landlord? Has he faced evictions in the past? Answers to these questions will give you a clear idea of the nature and behavior of an applicant. 

6.     Ask landlord references

This is a good way to decide in favor or against an applicant. Ask for landlord references from him. You can also call up his previous landlords to determine if the applicant is truly worthy of tenancy or not. These landlords will tell you if they received monthly rent on time or not and whether they had to deduct money from the safety deposit made by the applicant at the end of tenancy.