The art of securing good tenants for your building is often discussed. Getting credit checks, references, recommendations from former landlords, employment history, rental history, income and savings data... these are all valuable assists to making your determination. However, the all-time-gold-plated-rock-solid-premier-blue-ribbon-trophy-diamond-studded-best method is the unconventional "home visit".

Imagine what you would see if you visited your applicants home. That is exactly why this technique is so valuable. Certainly, the expectation is that your prospective tenants will clean up their homes for your visit. However, those toxic tenants who you would normally end up evicting just never seem to get it done... maybe they don't know how, maybe their idea of a clean home is different than yours, maybe they just don't care. Whatever the reason, you can see the future amongst the piles of dirty clothes, the crayon petroglyphs on the walls, the motorcycle in the dining room, the boa constrictor, the empty beer bottles, the over flowing garbage
pail, the surly friends, the four cats (one pregnant), the blaring rap music, the holes kicked in the closet door, the medicine cabinet half ripped from the bathroom wall, and the shower curtain on the outside of the tub.

It's a time consuming program. It's expensive. It's cumbersome. And, (heh, heh) it's effective!!! Usually the interviewer is the property manager although some larger complexes have an in-house, professional interviewer. If you have a fee manager, they will, no doubt, require additional compensation. This is a situation in which liberal compensation to your interviewer will pay generous dividends.

The one caveat is that this must be a standard practice - a policy. If one tenant is to be interviewed, all tenants must be interviewed. Of course, this is true of any practiceregarding tenant screening in order to protect you from discrimination suits. The secret to the home visit is to observe order and cleanliness, not F.D.S. (fashion deficit syndrome). Of course, your policy could exempt some prospects from the home visit such as those who live outside a pre-described area.

The home visit is the least utilized and best method of finding... and keeping... quality tenants. It is a practice which not only will increase your net operating income by reducing bad debts and tenant turn-over, as well as the cost of refurbishing units between tenants, and is truly a service to the community of residents whose quality of life is directly affected by those persons living near them. Occasionally a prospective tenant will object to this unusual practice. However, these prospects will readily accept your visit once they realize how it will substantially increase their chances for good neighbors. -

MIKE HESSE, CCIM, CPM
Real Estate & Investment Specialist
DIRECT - 720.581.2222
online at www.MikeHesse.com
email Mike@MikeHesse.com