Before your tenants apply…
- Availability – Click on our rental page. That page gets modified 24×7. If you see “Applicant Approved” do not waste your clients money! We get like 200 inquiries a day so this is the only practical solution to notify everyone. Once we get a lease signed and a security deposit, the property will disappear from our site and the MLS.
- Requirements – Every property has a rough guideline of what we are looking for. While you are on that rental page, check the property for those requirements and make sure your tenant knows about them. If they are significantly below the guidelines, please don’t encourage them to apply. Here are 4 items that will immediately disqualify your client.
- Evictions – We don’t care if they got evicted in the 70s. We are not taking them.
- Employment – We are only taking peeps who have a job. We are not taking peeps who were promised a job after the lock down. Sorry.
- Actual Rent History – Living with mom doesn’t count. We don’t have time for experiments. We need to know they pay rent on time and verified by a manager.
- Roommates – No. 95% of these end up in a disaster.
- Rent History – 80% of the applicants never sign this free itty bitty form enabling us to check rent history. Nearly every property management company requires authorization from the tenant to release rent history. This is Vegas and we don’t just take your clients word they pay rent on time. For some mysterious reason, most tenants go through all that work to fill out an application and pay $25 and never complete the second task. Maybe they mix a cocktail or give up. It’s a mystery to us why this task is rarely completed.
Here are some other things you should know:
- Pets – Every property indicates whether or not pets are accepted. Most of our properties don’t accept pets. If your client has a comfort zebra or whatever, it will have to be verified by Petscreening.com. No exceptions. Unfortunately, we are at a time in history where a 12 year old can make up an official document. Your clients will have to go here to complete that task. If you are wise, you will tell them to do that now before you waste your time.
- Co Signers – Nope. We can’t get our hands around their neck if your client destroys the place.
- Self Employed – If your client only makes cash and / or doesn’t have bank statements to prove they make money, we won’t take them.
- Volume – We deliberately lowered the prices on vacant properties because it’s going to get worse. Consequently, we get about 20 – 50 inquiries a day on some of these so we can be more selective. We can’t toss any naughty tenants right now so we have increased our standards. Don’t take it personally if we don’t take your client.
Agents who read below this line triple their chances of placing a tenant.
Before you go driving around wasting your gas, do these things BEFORE you get in the car.
- Get Rent Verification – This is where 95% agents fail. Get this BEFORE you show houses. Forward this link to your tenant now: Rent Verification Form. Then send that to their current property manager about 3 days before you go show houses. If they don’t want to do this, stop wasting your time now and move onto your next prospect. If their rent history is crap, refer them to to another agent who wants to waste their time. This is your biggest hurdle so just get over it now.
- Income Statement / Verification – Have your clients take pictures of their pay stubs or get screen shots of their bank statements or both. The more information the better. Make certain account numbers are not showing. Do the math. They need to be looking at houses that are no more than 1/3 of that total.
- Credit Score – Tell your clients to go to CreditKarma.com and take a snapshot of everyone’s credit over 18. If you believe what everyone tells you, you haven’t lived in Vegas long enough.
- Label Those Files – Upload them into a folder like Dropbox or Google Drive. You may as well include your W-9. Send that link to me. If that rent verification form is filled out by their property manager and you have all those other documents, I can tell you within 10 minutes if your tenant has a chance. You can save them an application fee and you can save yourself a trip.
- Close The Deal – You can tell within 3 minutes if they are interested in that property. Pull up our rental list to make sure it’s still available or text me at (702) 287-1092. If they want to move forward, put a rope around their neck and make them fill out the application on your phone right there. Not tonight, not tomorrow. Right now. You have all the files right? Clever agents have their laptop with them so they are not squinting and swearing at their phone.
You are done. You don’t have to keep chasing brain dead tenants who couldn’t figure out how to fill out an application or left their paystub in California. You won’t be like those other loser agents who never make it to the finish line because they are waiting on the tenant to do something.
9 out 10 agents fail because they didn’t have everything together before they showed the house.
Want to learn how to increase your chances even more? Keep reading…
Identification
Snoop around and learn a little before you meet your prospect.
Snooping Tips
Check their photo ID: 
- Ladies: Get in the habit of texting a friend that photo id. “I’m meeting this person at 3pm at 123 Main St.”
- Look them up on clark county records and do a quick check on them. See if they have a facebook page. The difference between photos of people partying and throwing gang signs are WAY different than the photos of a happy family at a picnic. You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to know which ones are going to make it.
- Criminal History – If you see a “W” on their record, this means they have a warrant for their arrest. Half these people don’t know they are wanted for a speeding ticket they failed to pay. They can’t pay rent if they are in the pokey! Property managers will reject these peeps without question. Cancel the appointment if you see a “W”!!! Tell them, they need to square that away before you can help them. If they have a felony, you really need to be up front with prospective property managers. We will take felons for our multi family that are old so it’s not exactly a deal killer for everyone.
- Civil History – If you see an eviction, game over. Unless they have a bunch of money in the bank and willing to live in the hood, you can’t do anything with them. There are some exceptions so you will have to be up front with prospective property managers. We will sometimes take eviction history if it’s over 10 years old for example. NOTE: If your tenant has a common name like Bill Jones, this is nearly impossible to do.
Rent Verification
Get that rent verification form signed and sent back to you. Property managers take days to reply to that form so get that started now. You can probably use that form for every property you attempt to place your tenant. By having that form completed, you are WAY ahead of your competition and miles ahead of Suzie and Johnny Lunchbucket who are trying to this on their own. Send that to your prospects landlord and have them respond to you. Most property managers are slammed and will take your form from their current landlord as gospel. If that property manager is illusive, see if your tenant has a ledger showing their income. 80% of the companies out there enable tenants to pull their ledgers online. Providing a property manager with a statement supported by a ledger makes you and your tenant look like a rock star.
If your tenant is living with mom and dad (or other family) they need to have stellar income and credit history. Property managers are not interested in being a rental guinea pig.
IMPORTANT: Professional rent dodgers will sing country western songs on why you can’t talk to their landlord. You don’t have time for that. Property managers won’t listen either.
Income Verification
This should be cake. Have them text you pay stubs or bank statements. Most of your prospects will forget to bring them and you will lose a whole day chasing this down. If your tenant is self employed, you need to provide at least 3 months of bank statements. Property managers are looking for self employed tenants who have a big fat bank balance. If your tenant has less than 2 months of rent in their account and are self employed, their chances of success are slim. You will need to pitch them to “marginal” owners who have low standards.
Credit
This should be cake. Have them text you a picture of the CreditKarma.com report / screenshot. Don’t be fooled with the statement “Good Credit” or “Bad Credit.” Credit is relative so get the facts now. CreditKarma may not be 100% accurate but it’s pretty darn close. If their credit is below 650, you need more details. If all their hits are old debt, medical judgements or educational loan defaults you still have a fighting chance. If you see recent hits on their cell our auto, they are toast. They can’t pay rent if they can’t get to work right? Stick a fork in them and refer them to someone else.
Want to learn how to make $1000 a week doing leasing?
Learn more on this page OR call me for happy hour. Seriously. Free beer goes a long way at my brokerage.
Leasing Tips for Real Estate Agents
We are looking for potential rockstars. I wrote a book on property management and have helped agents become rockstars. If you think you have the potential for being a rockstar, contact me. You may be a perfect fit for our team!
- Jim Eagan
- Broker / Coach / Author
- (702) 287-1092
- [email protected]
