Biggest Mistake a Medford Landlord Can Make

Let me tell you, I have made mistakes.  A lot of them.

Hopefully today I can share with you what I feel is the biggest mistake that a Landlord can make, whether you are here locally in Medford Oregon, or in any town in the US.

Bottom Line: The biggest mistake is settling for a Tenant. Duh, right?

Well, I can tell you first hand that it is VERY tempting to do.  It is oh so tempting to end it all and let that Tenant in that at first you were not going to, mainly because they are the only halfway qualified Tenant that you have.  if you are having a problem finding a qualified Tenant for your property, then there are other issues going on: Priced right, repairs, property condition?  You think you are stopping the bleeding now because you have a mortgage to pay and wader wader wader, I get it.  But you can’t settle. The extra week of a mortgage amount that you would have to cover now would more than pay for itself in more rental income, less stress, less maintenance costs by holding out for the right Tenant (assuming your pricing, property condition, etc. were in order)

Whatever the cause, the bottom line is that if you settle for that substandard Tenant, you will pay.  You may not pay now or tomorrow or even this week, but more than likely, you will pay.  Likely you will pay in:

• higher maintenance costs due to Tenant not properly taking care of your rental
• your time, as you will need to spend your time chasing late rents
• your $, as a obviously a Tenant that you settle for may have a history and at some point that may stop paying
• stress.  handling rental properties is already stressful, why add stress to your self by settling on a Tenant?

Make sure when you are screening your tenants that you careful weed out the poor performers and make sure you watch out for these “more common than you think” tricks:

1. Tenants placing a buddys phone number on the application as either their employer or landlord. Never call the number on the application.  Look up the company or person on google and call them direct. Also, ensure that you get a written verification of employment.
2. Ask you to not run credit.  Just do it.  They will come up with every excuse in the world.  Don’t give in.  This is a perfect history of how they will pay you.
3. Call their previous landlord as well, not just their current! Think about it for a moment – if you were their current Landlord and you wanted to get rid of them, would you tell another Medford Property Management Company or Landlord that they were bad Tenants? Unfortunately the current landlord has something to lose by telling the truth.  The previous Landlord will tell you the truth.  And guess what….people don’t change, so what they say is gold.

In summary, when you a re filling your Ashland, Phoenix, Talent, Medford, Jacksonville or Central point rental property…DO NOT SETTLE!  It may seem like it will stop the bleeding now, but that wound will be opened and be 3 times the size that it is now!!!  Get a quality Tenant for your Medford property!