Getting the Best Tenant

Chelsea Carl • Dec 18, 2019
Property Management, Real Estate, San Diego, Landlord, Tenant, Inspection, Lease, Investment

It’s no big secret that landlords in San Diego want responsible tenants. Folks who pay the rent on time, respect the property, are good neighbors, and generally do not cause problems are ideal tenants. San Diego has a vast population. Thousands of people are looking for apartments every week. The challenge is to find a suitable tenant in the crowd. It is like finding a needle in a haystack.

Choose Carefully

An apartment vacancy must be filled. An unoccupied space means no rent money and will disrupt positive cash flow. However, a landlord in San Diego must be careful. It is dangerous to sign a lease only to secure some rent. Sign in haste, repent at leisure is a good motto for any property owner. Here are ways to minimize the chances of accidentally getting a bad tenant.

*Set a goal. You don’t need to sign the first person who views the apartment. Determine in the beginning how many prospects you would like to visit you and you would consider offering the lease. Once that figure is met, decide from the group who will be offered a rental contract. Make sure to take notes about each visitor to help with this final decision.

*Do background checks. These include credit ratings and police records. Any formal complaint filed against the prospective renter must be examined.

*Reference checks should be focused. Contacting former landlords is essential, but the only questions should be whether the person was a good tenant.

A Third-Party Helps

The process of selecting a good tenant is tedious and time-consuming. Discriminatory selection can cause serious problems. A landlord doesn’t always know how to perform an efficient background check or adequately choose a good tenant.

Property management companies in San Diego are experts at tenant selection. They will conduct both background and reference checks properly, taking care to get the relevant facts and not be discriminatory. Alta Vista Properties is a property management company in San Diego with a reputation for choosing the best tenants.

Prompt Efficiency

We serve property owners in San Diego and realize that filling a vacancy is critical. Alta Vista Properties has a selection process that will cover all the bases. We scrutinize credit reports and the public records. We will only offer a lease to someone with good credit and a good police record. Our process is nondiscriminatory and compliant with existing California law.

Convenience Is Essential for Retention

Keeping those good tenants is the goal once the rental lease is signed. A smart landlord wants to hold onto people who pay rent and respect the property. Making things as convenient as possible is critical.

Alta Vista Properties will do just that. We will make it easy to be a tenant at one of our properties. We set up electronic transfers so that rent is automatically deposited on a particular date, eliminating the chances of late payment. We have a webpage devoted to reporting damage so the problem can be dealt with as soon as possible. Tenants don’t always understand the lease. We make ourselves available to explain the paperwork. Our staff is always willing to work with a tenant on a problem. 

We value those residents and try to establish a good rapport with each one of them. The low tenant turnover rate underscores the success we have achieved in working with tenants. The number of prospects who are referred to us by tenants further shows approval of what we do.

Please do inquire at any time about our property management services. We can be reached at 858-274-3600 or by email at info@altavistaproperties.net. We look forward to hearing from you and answering your questions.

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