Rent Your House Quick, and Find Good Tenants

Renting your home can be easy when you have good renters. Finding the good renter is the hard part. I rented my house and used some great tools to make it simple. These tools can help weed out the bad renter, or keep them away all together. Late payments, no payments, or damage to your house are all the possibilities we try to avoid. Follow these easy steps to help make the process less stressful.

Step 1) Read all the free information you can find. I found something new every night to read. There is tons of information on the web about renting, and plenty of stories about nightmare renters. It might not hurt to read some horror stories, however I would not spend much time with this. These could be embellished, and this is not your focus. I looked at sites like Rent Law- The National Landlord Tenant Guide. They have individual state laws and renters rights for every state. This is something you must read over and over. It is not exciting, however, it is important to know what you are doing, if a tenant asks you a question. My tenant was shocked to find out he was the first renter I ever had. I was prepared to answer questions, and had forms ready to sign.

The Landlord Protection Agency is a good place to get free forms. They supply all the forms you will need from application to move out time. Most of all they are free. They have Lease Addendum, Rental Binder Agreement, Eviction Notice, Pet Agreement forms and on and on. Do not just print these out and have your tenant sign them. Read the entire forms that you choose to use. There might be unnecessary information that does not pertain to you, or something you need to add. As a landlord you must be covered in writing, with signatures to protect yourself and your property.

Step 2) Place your house for rent on Craigs list. People from all over search here for rentals. My neighbor rented his house in two weeks. The house was in North Carolina, and the renter was from California. With just a sign in the yard and a local ad, the renter would not have found your house. I rented mine in four days, and the advertisement was free. Ad different ways for people to contact you. Give several options like phone, email, or text. Some people would rather text a quick question than call. Be sure to include as much detail as possible. If you don't, you might spend all day or week answering questions. If you get a good question, edit your ad to include it. This can't be done with a newspaper ad. Including in your ad that you require a credit, and backround check, will stop most unwanted renters in their tracks.

Step 3) Require a back round and credit check. Anyone who knows they will not pass, (in most cases) will not bother. Some will apply anyway, but that's OK. Require a upfront application fee. This way they are paying, and you lose nothing except some time. You could charge five or ten dollars more than the actual cost for your troubles. I did not, because it was so simple. TransUnion's SmartMove is your one-stop-shop for tenant screening.


Sign up for a account. It is free to do this. Type in your property name and address. All you need is the tenants email. Type their email into the property you entered on SmartMove. Transunion will send them an email to start their application. You just avoided the need to take any personal information from the applicant. When the hopeful tenant is ready to apply, there are two ways to do this. Collect the money from them to pay for the back round and credit check. I would only do this if you are charging them extra for the application. The other option is for them to pay online with a debit or credit card when they log on. This option give you less hassle. TransUnion will notify you after the process is complete. You can scan their complete credit report and score, plus the back round check. TransUnion is a trusted source, so there is no need to run a check on the the company. There were other credit check companies I found that had a list of complaints.

Step 4) Change your home owners insurance to cover a renter, and require your tenant to carry renters insurance. These laws vary state to state for the requirements, however you must make sure you are covered in case of flood, fire, water leak, or whatever the situation. Renters insurance is cheap, so if your tenant complains, tell them this is required to live here, and have it in writing. You should also get a discount on your insurance policy with proof of this.

Read all you can ahead of time. You want to cover all bases to protect yourself and your renter. Understand the eviction process. Be prepared in case there is ever a need. If you lived here before, you must put aside all sentimental thoughts and memories. Look at this as a rental property only, not your home. You are now a landlord and it is imperative that you act professional. If you do not think you are up to this, and you could not control your emotions if someone damaged your property, there are companies that handle rental process. They keep a portion of the rent each month and do all the dirty work. I prefer to keep the money.

Take your time and do not rush to get a tenant. You need to think about every move you make. Once there is a lease, it is legally binding. You could be sued for trying to break it. The more you know about what you are doing, the easier it is. I am not a professional, or an expert, however we find it gets easier each time we rent. I will continue with the same system since we have weeded out the bad, and continue with the good. I hope this has helped and I wish you good luck.

TransUnion SmartMove •https://www.mysmartmove.com/LandlordsCredit.aspx

The Landlord Protection Agency http://www.thelpa.com/

Rent Law- Find laws for your state. http://www.rentlaw.com/

Craigs List- Place free ads http://charlotte.craigslist.org/