Beacon Hill Apartments For Rent: How Landlords Should Screen Potential Tenants Boston Condos For Sale Ford Realty

Guide To Tenant Screening Beacon Hill Apartment Renters

If you’re going to be investing in Boston real estate for sale rental properties you want to make sure you’ve got a system to get good Beacon Hill apartment tenants.

There is plenty to talk about when it comes to tenant screening but in this post we will be focused on how to weed out bad applicants through the tenant screening process.

It all starts with your listing…

Make Your Criteria Known In Your Listing

Boston real estate tenant screening is a process of elimination. You want to attract interest in your Beacon Hill apartment rental so you can begin to eliminate applicants that don’t meet your criteria.

Your Beacon Hill apartment rental vacancy is the first opportunity to deter the wrong suitors.

It’s up to you but I’d recommend considering some of the following items in your listings:

Smoking/Vaping policy
Pet policy
Rent to income ratio standard
Whether your run a background check or not

Let’s break down each of these items.

Smoking/vaping policy – Smokers are not a protected class and you can state if you allow smoking in or around your rental. If you don’t allow smoking I’d suggest adding that to your listings to deter smokers from applying.

Pet policy – You can have a no pet policy in place but understand that it doesn’t apply to service animals, emotional support animals or assistance animals. If you do allow pets make sure you never charge a pet fee for an assistance animal.

Rent to income ratio – Most people require a 2.5 – 3x standard. If you adopt a 3x standard this means that the renter must make three times more than the monthly rent with their gross monthly salary. An easy example would be that if your rental is $1,000 a month your renter must make $3,000 a month. Making this criteria known will weed out many applicants.

Running a background check – Sometimes just saying you run a background check can be as effective as actually running one. If an interested renter has some red flags in their background, they may not bother applying if you mention you run a background check.

Pre-screening Phone Call

You always want to make sure you get the chance to talk to an interested Beacon Hill apartment renter on the phone before you show them the Beacon Hill apartment

This won’t come as a surprise but many renters look at photos and price and they don’t look at your criteria. This call is an opportunity to gauge their interest and remind them of your screening criteria. It’s not uncommon that they don’t qualify but didn’t read your Beacon Hill apartment listing completely.

One way to circumvent this issue is to have a stipulation or speed bump in your process. If you require interested applicants to email you with a specific subject line it will tell you that they actually read your entire listing.

This isn’t a recommended strategy if you’re in a slower market but if you are in a hot market you could add this speed bump in and only reply to those who follow the proper steps.

Schedule Showings

At this point your listing and your pre-screening conversation should eliminate a good chunk of the tire kickers or non-qualified applicants for your Beacon Hill apartment for rent

You should be showing your Beacon Hill apartment to people who know you run a background check and they pass your other initial criteria. When you’re showing the rental be sure to pick up on any clues they leave you.

Did they show up on time, did they ask odd questions, did they look prepared and interested? These aren’t make or break items but they all give you a clearer picture of their tendencies.

If you have two renters that appear equal but one showed up five minutes early and the other was five minutes late who would you put your money on to pay rent on time?

Make sure you have a stack of rental applications handy and make sure interested renters fill out 100% of the application. Do not allow them to hand in an app with blank spaces on it.

The simple act of instituting a “no blank space” policy will weed out a few applicants. These applicants typically have something to hide.

Run A Background Report

A background check can cost from $10 – $20 you can get one buy contacting Sanajonics in downtown Boston.

It’s recommended that before you run a background check you have a written criteria or a tenant screening criteria. This document is something you use as your answer key when grading an applicant. It will list out what you will and won’t accept in an applicant and if you do a Google search of “tenant screening criteria” you’ll find various free forms to get you started.

One thing to note is to not to do a blanket criminal policy such as “no criminal past.” There are efforts to make landlords pick and choose what crimes are deal breakers and which ones are ok. If your applicant has a violent crime or sexual crime that can create a nexus to why they would be a bad renter whereas an applicant with a DWI might be a different scenario. You want to be specific in what crimes you will not consider and what crimes are acceptable.

Check Previous Landlord References

You want to take a look at the entire story of the applicant. If you just focus on the background check you’re going to miss other details.

Someone might look amazing on a background check but one phone call to their previous landlord might sway your opinion of renting to them.

Due diligence is so important when it comes to tenant screening because your tenants are so important to how your business is going to run. Think of your Beacon Hill apartment rental as a business and not a hobby because an eviction can costs thousands of dollars in lost rent, court fees and attorney fees.

.Good tenants will make your life much easier and less hassle.

Boston Beacon Hill Apartments for rent for college students

Beacon HIll apartments for remt

Beacon Hill Apartments for Rent September 2020 -1/2 Month Broker Fees

1 Bedroom located on Myrtle Street September 1, 2020 – $2,000

1 Bedroom located on South Russell Street September 1, 2020 – $2,400

2 Bedroom located on Phillips Street September 1, 2020 – $3,000

2 Bedroom located on Myrtle Street September 1, 2020 – $3,075

2 Bedroom located on Anderson Street September 1, 2020 – $3,100

2 Bedroom located on Myrtle Street September 1, 2020 – $3,100

2 Bedroom located on Myrtle Street September 1, 2020 – $4.100

All units include heat and hot water
Pets are allowed in some units
Students will need Grantors (co-signers)
Floor plans and pictures can be provided per email or text requests
More information contact John Ford 617-595-3712 cell text you can also email realty ford@yahoo.com