Tenant Qualification and Property Management

Tenant Qualification/Credit Scoring

Most landlords are very curious as to how we qualify tenants when we offer a home for rent. Before I dig into the nuts and bolts of our process, let me emphatically state that a property manager should have a stated policy as to what are the minimum criteria required when renting a home. Having a policy is great but…. YOU HAVE TO LET PROSPECTIVE TENANTS KNOW WHAT’S REQUIRED. I believe that the surest way to get yourself and your landlord client into trouble is to be loose on what you’ll accept. For example, we require a minimum 635 credit score, a 55% or lower debt to income ratio, no collections, no evictions, and no charge offs on credit history.

To quality as fully applied for one of our managed properties a tenant must view the home, in some instances a virtual tour will be permitted. A prospective tenant must submit our application, a photo i.d. and a paystub. Finally, a prospective tenant must pay our non-refundable application fee. Then, and only then is a tenant prospect considered fully applied for one of our homes. We then process their application.

Our tenant prospects have twenty-four hours to complete the application process. Once approved they have twenty-four hours to review and sign our lease, and thereafter an additional twenty- four hours to pay their deposit to hold the home until move in. If a prospective tenant fails to meet any of those benchmarks, we move onto the next application.

In conclusion, a property manager should have a stated policy, have clear benchmarks, have solid expectations, and publish their expectations.

MLSullivan Property Management is a professional property management company based in Durham, NC. We serve Durham County, Wake County, Orange County, Chatham County, and eastern parts of Alamance County, North Carolina. We offer a variety of property management solutions tailored to fit owner’s needs.