I do not want to jump Greg's post below. so here goes. I think that too many landlords create their own problems when renting. What I mean by that is that they do too little before renting. If you as work hard at finding good tenants as you do repairing destroyed homes then you will be better off. Many of you are writing about how you spent days/weeks repairing the house after a bad renter, how long did you look for a "good" tenant???? I bet not that long.
To those renters that do not want to fill out an application or allow a credit report to be ran, move on and find some other sucker. Not wanting to do either of these things tells me right off the bat that they are hiding some thing that would make me not want them anyway.
There are much worse things than a house setting empty for a while. Try doing things differently and see if you get better tenants.
If your in an area that has low rents and low priced house then sell an get out of that market. There is no money there to be made. You can't get blood from a turnip. Renting to low income people is a fool's errand. They do not have the financial capacity to hardly pay rent let alone pay for any damages. So your asking for trouble renting to them to start with.
It is kind of like selling equipment. You sell junk and you will have hard time making money and are always dealing with people that are unhappy with the deals/equipment. IF you sell better quality equipment of any brand, you will be able to make better money with fewer problems.
So here is what many of you need to do before renting to anyone. Check references, do a credit report, verify income, get first month and last month rent PLUS a security deposit and then do not allow any wavering on late rental payment. If you do these things or even most of them you will have better luck renting.
The days of walking a person through the rental and shaking hands based on a "feeling" are long gone. Research and verify just like you would buying your herd bull. LOL (I was going to say picking your wife but I then remembered what really "picked" most of them out) LOL
To those renters that do not want to fill out an application or allow a credit report to be ran, move on and find some other sucker. Not wanting to do either of these things tells me right off the bat that they are hiding some thing that would make me not want them anyway.
There are much worse things than a house setting empty for a while. Try doing things differently and see if you get better tenants.
If your in an area that has low rents and low priced house then sell an get out of that market. There is no money there to be made. You can't get blood from a turnip. Renting to low income people is a fool's errand. They do not have the financial capacity to hardly pay rent let alone pay for any damages. So your asking for trouble renting to them to start with.
It is kind of like selling equipment. You sell junk and you will have hard time making money and are always dealing with people that are unhappy with the deals/equipment. IF you sell better quality equipment of any brand, you will be able to make better money with fewer problems.
So here is what many of you need to do before renting to anyone. Check references, do a credit report, verify income, get first month and last month rent PLUS a security deposit and then do not allow any wavering on late rental payment. If you do these things or even most of them you will have better luck renting.
The days of walking a person through the rental and shaking hands based on a "feeling" are long gone. Research and verify just like you would buying your herd bull. LOL (I was going to say picking your wife but I then remembered what really "picked" most of them out) LOL