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Scattered Site Rental Toolkit: |
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Business Planning for Development &
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IV.C. Attracting Quality
Tenants
What is a quality tenant? Many of the following
are often on a landlord’s list:
·
Pays rent
faithfully and on time
·
Takes good
care of the dwelling
·
Keeps up
with expected tenant maintenance and cleaning
·
Tells the
landlord right away if something is broken
·
Is quiet
and gets along well with other neighbors
·
Stays for a
long time
Should
providers of low income housing expect their tenants to do these things? For
the most part they should. Obviously the unexpected happens. A job is lost,
someone gets sick, a family splits up, or a decision is made to move out of
state. Those things can happen with any tenant. Sometimes you can provide
services or subsidies to assist tenants in maintaining their unit. But aside
from these kinds of events, tenants should be expected to meet these
requirements.
If
this is true, how can you get quality tenants in the first place? There are no
guarantees, but there are a few things that you can do. Among them are the
following:
·
Ensure that
they have adequate income and/or work with them to develop a subsidized rent
that is sustainable with their income.
·
Ask them
about their long term plans.
·
Ask for and
check references.
·
Ask about
where they have lived over the past few years and check with previous
landlords.
·
Conduct a
credit check.
·
Conduct a
background check.
In
addition, there is much that can be included in the way that tenants and units
are managed that will help to ensure that tenants continue to meet their
requirements. This will be discussed in the section on management.
It is also important to think about the marketing of
these units to your targeted population. What amenities and services will make
these units easier to lease up and reduce turn over? In the example used
earlier, that mother with three kids may want the amenities to include a
dishwasher, a garbage disposal, a swing set and a window looking out over the
backyard, as well as a second bathroom with a tub. In order to better
understand the amenities that are in demand, one suggestion is to meet with
area realtors to find out what amenities people are looking for, especially
people within your target demographic. You may also be able to find some
information from available data and/or surveys.
