How important is a good tenant?
When you are looking to become a property investor searching for the right property is not the only thing that you need to prioritise. Your choice of tenant also plays an influential role to the success or failure of your investment journey.
Now, what kind of tenant do you need? The type of tenant you are looking for will vary and factors such as the type of property and the demographic of the area will play a part. Having a tenant with great references, sufficient income to be able to afford the property and a stable rental history is important. It is, thus, important to screen your prospective tenants well before approving their applications.
Going an Extra Mile
To ensure a steady stream of cash flow and less wear and tear on a property, ideally you would have a long term tenant. When you have long term tenants you also do not have the expenses of reletting, advertising and potential vacancy.
How do you make a good tenant stay longer? The first thing you need to do is to make sure that all of their concerns and issues regarding the property are dealt with promptly. Should you increase the rent, make sure that it is aligned with current market rates. If the tenants are considering moving, find out why. It may be for a reason that you can easily resolve such as installing air conditioning or extra storage.
Location
The type of tenants you attract would be largely influenced by your property’s location. If you have a particular type of tenant in mind, you must consider the suburb and the amenities and schools closeby. Are there shops around the area? And how close is the property to the CBD? Determining your target market would help you attract the right kind of tenant. This way, you would have the luxury of hand picking the tenants you think are the best fit for your property.
Finding the Right Kind of Tenant
The secret to finding a good tenant is through diligence and a good marketing strategy. The first thing you need to do is to attract attention to your property. It needs to be presentable and enticing to viewers. Not only should it be pretty; being in pristine condition would also add to its value and desirability.
Once you have attracted potential tenants, you must start doing background checks. The screening process is one of the most crucial phases and should be dealt with careful consideration to details, making sure that you do not veer away from your standard criteria. Call each one of the prospective tenant’s references, both landlord references and employment references and be sure to ask all the necessary questions so you can have a good idea about a person’s track record. Also tenants must be checked against tenancy blacklist databases such as the National Tenancy Database.
Searching for a reliable tenant sure is hard work and requires ample time and focus. However, this process should never be overlooked if you want to avoid failure in your investment. If you think you cannot commit a considerable amount of time in looking for the right tenant while overseeing other equally important aspects of your investment, Rental Results could be your best bet. We offer personalised services that deliver outstanding results. We are property investors ourselves, so you can rest assured that your property is in good hands.
For enquiries, give us a call on 3123 7373 or contact us here.
