San Antonio Property Management Blog

Finding the best tenant for your property is important and has a direct impact on the type of rental experience you have as a landlord. Today, we’d like to go over a few ways to ensure that you are always selecting the best possible tenant for your property.

Pay Attention to Property Condition

You always want to make sure that the home is ready. By ready, we mean it should be clean, functional, and welcoming. You could consider adding new landscaping such as potted flowers to make the outside of the home appear well-maintained and inviting. When people are driving or walking by, you want them to be impressed. Even if they are not in the market themselves, they may know someone who is.

Inside, pay close attention to kitchens and bathrooms. Those are always a big deal to potential renters. Tile floors are also way more attractive to tenants because they have less maintenance and fewer allergens. Tile or laminate floors can also save you money as a homeowner because you would not have to replace the floors as often as you would replace carpet.

Marketing and Advertising to Tenants

It’s important to get your property in front of as many people as possible. Most of our traffic comes from online sources. You want to make sure you are putting your property on some big name websites such as Zillow or Trulia or Hotpads. These sites seem to be generating a lot of leads not only for house sales but also for rentals.

Distributing flyers is another way to get your property out there. You may want to consider distributing to the community you are in, but also look into local universities or colleges as well as any military bases, with their permission. Post your listing anywhere you think you can. Always be sure your contact information is included on your listing. It should be easy to see and read.

Post a visible and professional yard sign at the property. When you’re driving by, make sure you can see it from all angles and that it includes your contact information. Your marketing pictures should be professional and informative. Make sure you provide as much information about the property as you can. Ask your friends to share information about your property on social media. The more people that see your property, the faster you will get your property rented.

Tenant Screening Tips

In order to place and retain the best tenants, you need to make sure you are doing your due diligence and checking everything on the application. Make sure prospective tenants fill out the entire application. You want to keep this process consistent and within fair housing requirements, so make sure you are treating each applicant the same and that each applicant follows the same steps.

Past landlords should be included on the application, as well as employment history. You will want phone numbers to check references as well. Calling to verify rental history and work history is important.

When a potential tenant calls for information, you want to follow up and get back to them quickly. Most likely, you are not the only property they are looking at.

These are only a few ways to find and keep a great tenant. If you’d like to hear more, please contact us at HomeRiver Group in San Antonio.