Rental Tenant Interviews: 3 Additional Questions To Ask

 

"Winning is not a sometime thing; it's an all the time thing. You don't win once in a while; you don't do things right once in a while; you do them right all of the time. Winning is a habit. Unfortunately, so is losing.”

Vince Lombardi (former Green Bay Packers Head Coach)

 

With low unemployment numbers, job applicants seem to really have the upper hand in the hiring process now.  The stories are interesting, if not shocking, to someone who remembers pleading for employment back in the day.  I remember it being nerve-wracking going into interviews and then wondering how things went afterwards:

 

Did they like me? 

I might have blown question #3; I hope that doesn’t sink me

How long should I wait to get a call back before following up?

Where’s a stamp to send a “thank you” letter for the interviewer?

My greatest weakness?  Oh, sometimes I just work too long and hard and forget to eat…

 

But now, the onus seems to be on the companies.  They need workers!  They ask:

 

What kind of coffee would you like?  We have lots of different kinds and sweeteners!  Oh, you want Gatorade instead?  No problem!  I like your style already!

When did you say you could start?

Do you prefer a car service to work or did you just want to work from home?

Is this person going to show up or did we get “ghosted” again?

 

Fortunately, for property managers in Charlotte, the advantage is with the landlords (for the time being…).  There are a smaller number of Charlotte-area rental homes available for prospective renters, especially those priced on the lower side.  It is not uncommon to get many rental applications on the first day a rental home comes on the market.  Tenants compete to secure these homes. 

 

But with so many applications, how does one choose a winner?

 

Sticking with the basics is paramount- credit and criminal background checks, landlord history, employment/income verification.  These are the backbone of finding the best candidate.  However, there is often a lot of grey area left after finding out this basic information, especially when several potential renters have very similar background results.  It can be tough to figure out who to approve.

 

So what to do?

 

There’s a common saying in human resources that the job interview begins at first contact; so what has the prospective tenant shown us so far in our dealings?  Here are three questions that may be helpful in further assessing closely qualified candidates:

 

1. Were they on-time (or early!) if we met them at the property?
2. How long did it take for them to provide any documentation we needed to run their application?  Did we need to ask several times?
3. (And what I think is the most telling) Have they been pleasant to interact with?

 

As Coach Lombardi said, “you don’t do things right once in a while; you do them right all the time.”  It’s a habit.  Regular background checks will reveal much of the habits of applicants.  We want tenants with good ones!  And courtesy, responsiveness, and (especially) pleasantness are other habits that are invaluable to landlords. 

 

Happy Landlording!