The art and science of tenant acquisition is arguably, the most important aspect of property management.  Unfortunately, it is also where most first time landlords make the most mistakes. Good tenants pay rent on time.  They treat your property well, report issues when they should, and respect the lease agreement they’ve signed with you.  Bad tenants will test your patience. They’ll mistreat your property, submit their rents late, get into disputes with neighbors, and violate your leases.  Needless to say, the best time to get rid of a bad tenant is at the marketing and screening stage.

Marketing Your Rentals:  Good tenants are attracted to well-kept properties.  So the first step in your rental marketing process is making sure that major (especially cosmetic) issues are taken care of.  If there is a giant hole in the ceiling, people will take notice. This allows you to take relatively nice pictures which are crucial to any good rental postings.  The posting itself should be as descriptive as possible. No one likes short, esoteric postings because it’s unprofessional and you won’t get any responses. Here’s a short list of key items I keep in all my rental marketing templates:

1. Short Description:  This is a short summary of what you’re offering and looking.  Keep the important elements here such as price, size of unit, and terms of the lease.  Also, if there are any deal breakers you need tenants to know such as strict pet policies.  The key is to save the readers time by exposing the important details first.
2. General Area:  Here I will only provide an approximation of your property location, rather than sharing the specific address.  You don’t want applicants randomly coming to your properties bothering to your tenants. Keep this a secret until you’ve had a chance to properly screen them.
3. Terms of the Lease:  This is a key detail to place in your short description.  The optimal cycle is different across the world. In Boston, the lease cycle typically starts when the students are back in town, so September 1st.  June 1st may also be a good start. Winter cycles are to be avoided like the plague.
4. Rent and what it includes:  The rent that you’ll be charging should be analyzed even before you close on the property.  In case you want a refresher, here’s the link.  If you find that your response rate is low, or you are getting several no shows to your open houses, then you may need to adjust the rent.  Lastly, outline if the rent includes utilities, gas, electricity, and internet in some cases. This needs to be explicitly outlined because tenants hate surprises. 
5. Unit Description:  You don’t need to embellish the size of the room or the decor in the unit because applicants will likely want to see the unit in-person.  The basics will suffice such as quantity of bedrooms and bathrooms.
6. Amenities:  Aside from the location, the amenities might also be a deal breaker.  Do you have garage parking? Do tenants have access to the patio? Is there laundry onsite? A view of the Boston skyline?  This is the section to make your properties standout.
7. Pet Policies: If there is a pet policy (and it’s good to have one), then let it be known.  Keep in mind there are different insurance and liability associate with tenant pets.  Also, also keep in mind there are special provisions for service animals.
8. Nearby Attractions and Shops:  If your property is nearby any attractions, make sure to proudly state this in your posting.  This is one trick to boost your search results. If you’re minutes from TD Garden, let it be known.  If you’re 5 minutes away from Sam Adams Brewery, let that be known. Even everyday locales such as Stop and Shop will attract attention and help orient the viewers.
9. Ideal Tenants: I would use this section with caution because you definitely do not want to discriminate.  However, it is a good way to emphasize qualities you want in an ideal tenant such as respectful, responsibility, quiet, professional.
10. Contact: Make sure to also have a way for the viewers to contact you.  I would not advise leaving your direct contact but instead use the rental platform to broker the initial inquiries.  This way you won’t find a Nigerian prince looking to wire transfer you thousands of dollars :-).

Note on Rental Platforms

Once you have your posting, you’ll need to get them noticed.  Distribution can take place in multiple forms and different platforms will make sense for different locations. The key is to figure out where the eyes are (where you’ll get the most attention).  In Boston, there are countless Facebook groups designed for the sole purpose of helping students find housing. Craigslist is also a practical and free option. Plenty of new websites such as Apartment.com, Trulia, and Zillow have sprout their own rental listing services.  In short, there’s no shortage of rental platforms for you to use. I would experiment to figure out what works well in your area.

Housing Discrimination & Selection Criteria

America has a long history of racism, discrimination, and bigotry.  That’s why a series of anti-discrimination laws emerged to protect specific classes of people.  As a landlord, you have to be mindful that your tenant selection criteria is not discriminatory.  You can get a more detailed description here but it includes race, ethnicity, nationality, gender, family with children, housing voucher holders, and more.

Here are some selection criteria that are kosher (at least in MA):

1. Gross Monthly Income > 3X Rent – Obviously, if someone is unable to afford their rent, then it doesn’t matter what protected classes they fall into, they simply don’t meet the minimum criterion.  One thing to note is that voucher holders will be able to reduce their income obligation based on their government waiver. For instance, if your monthly rent is $1,000 and an applicant has a voucher for $800, that means her monthly rental obligation is only $200.  So if she makes over $600 per month, that would qualify her to meet your 3x selection criteria. Keep this in mind.
2. Sex Offender/Predator/Violent Criminal History – Anyone with violent criminal history or registered sex offender are not protected and you can deny someone solely based on these parameters.  Most towns and municipalities will have a public sex offender registry. You may also ask applicants to submit a CORI form.
3. Landlord/Employer References – References are often more telling than what the tenant submits on the application.  If they get raving reviews from their past landlords and employers, you likely have good applicant.  Bad reviews are often indicative for future problems. One pro-tip is to make sure that the references are indeed who they claim to be.  I’ve had a tenant that listed her sister as her landlord. A search on land record shows that her current landlord is a 60 year old man. Needless to say, she did not move into the property.

Tenant Screening may seem like a daunting task but it is one component of your landlording journey you simply cannot avoid. Bad properties can be repaired but bad tenants can ruin your burgeoning real estate experience. Just remember, this is a customer service business – be a professional!