- Joined
- Sep 14, 2007
- Messages
- 617
I did my very first eviction the other day. 5 years of land lording with roughly 30 doors to manage and I finally had to tell someone that they could no longer live in my house. Now that being said these were actually squatters. I had rented the home to a young man last year. This spring he had lost his job and thought that getting a roommate would help him pay the bills. Two problems with that theory: one roommate turned into six and I wasn’t notified of any of them! So after noise complaints from the neighbours, the local RCMP showing up a couple of times and finally the ambulance showing up to one of the squatter’s parties I had had enough!
We have all heard the nightmare land lording stories. Tenants that don’t pay rent, toilets that clog, roofs that leak, crazy dogs that won’t let you on the property and if you are really lucky a grow op! Yes, these things can and do happen but how does one avoid these land minds if at all possible? How is it that in five years and many tenants it took me this long to have a “bad” experience? I attribute it to two things: I screen my tenants very well up front and second I don’t treat them like tenants at all! They are my clients....my best clients! Like any other business you do your best to create strong relationships with your clients. That’s right I have relationships with my tenants! I do my best to know the names of their kids and pets, when their birthdays are, if they are getting married, what they do for a living and if they enjoy it and how their vacations were this year. I create a genuine relationship with them and them with me. They know I live in the mountains and I love climbing and snowboarding, that I have a little boy named Kaden who is cute as a button and that my wife is a great photographer who makes a wicked spaghetti.
But what about “professionalism” you ask? Don’t get me wrong we still have to set out strict guide lines and rules (just like any relationship) but like any healthy relationship there is respect both ways. I have never had a midnight move and we have never had anyone not pay rent. This doesn’t mean my clients don’t have issues and haven’t been late from time to time but I will usually get a phone call that goes something like this, “Wade, How are you? Life happened to me and I will be two days late paying my rent this month. I understand that there is a late charge and I thank you for understanding.” No problem!
But how do you find these sort of great tenants? First of all buy great property. Have the best product and command the highest rents. This, by nature, attracts the best clients. Second, screen well. Have an amazing application that gives you the background info that you need. Don’t just ask for their last landlord as he might be wanting to get rid of them and would tell you anything you wanted to hear so ask for a couple of land lords as you will get a much clearer picture. Phone their boss and ask if they will be getting a raise this year. Look them up on Facebook. If they are dancing on the speakers in their photos they will be dancing on the speakers at your place. And go with your gut. Do you get any weird vibes? If so trust it and move on to the next application. An empty place for a month is much better than a crappy tenant.
I was thinking about our clients the other day and most of them have been with us for over two years on average. Some of them we have had since the first day we purchased the property. We just had our first tenant buy a place from us and we even financed it for him! We must be doing something right.
There are some nasty stories out there about tenants. For the most part we were all tenants at one point in time so we couldn’t have all been that bad. Buy great property, screen well and treat your clients like real people and you shouldn’t have that many serious problems. Good luck and happy land lording.
Our latest blog post.....see this post and more here
We have all heard the nightmare land lording stories. Tenants that don’t pay rent, toilets that clog, roofs that leak, crazy dogs that won’t let you on the property and if you are really lucky a grow op! Yes, these things can and do happen but how does one avoid these land minds if at all possible? How is it that in five years and many tenants it took me this long to have a “bad” experience? I attribute it to two things: I screen my tenants very well up front and second I don’t treat them like tenants at all! They are my clients....my best clients! Like any other business you do your best to create strong relationships with your clients. That’s right I have relationships with my tenants! I do my best to know the names of their kids and pets, when their birthdays are, if they are getting married, what they do for a living and if they enjoy it and how their vacations were this year. I create a genuine relationship with them and them with me. They know I live in the mountains and I love climbing and snowboarding, that I have a little boy named Kaden who is cute as a button and that my wife is a great photographer who makes a wicked spaghetti.
But what about “professionalism” you ask? Don’t get me wrong we still have to set out strict guide lines and rules (just like any relationship) but like any healthy relationship there is respect both ways. I have never had a midnight move and we have never had anyone not pay rent. This doesn’t mean my clients don’t have issues and haven’t been late from time to time but I will usually get a phone call that goes something like this, “Wade, How are you? Life happened to me and I will be two days late paying my rent this month. I understand that there is a late charge and I thank you for understanding.” No problem!
But how do you find these sort of great tenants? First of all buy great property. Have the best product and command the highest rents. This, by nature, attracts the best clients. Second, screen well. Have an amazing application that gives you the background info that you need. Don’t just ask for their last landlord as he might be wanting to get rid of them and would tell you anything you wanted to hear so ask for a couple of land lords as you will get a much clearer picture. Phone their boss and ask if they will be getting a raise this year. Look them up on Facebook. If they are dancing on the speakers in their photos they will be dancing on the speakers at your place. And go with your gut. Do you get any weird vibes? If so trust it and move on to the next application. An empty place for a month is much better than a crappy tenant.
I was thinking about our clients the other day and most of them have been with us for over two years on average. Some of them we have had since the first day we purchased the property. We just had our first tenant buy a place from us and we even financed it for him! We must be doing something right.
There are some nasty stories out there about tenants. For the most part we were all tenants at one point in time so we couldn’t have all been that bad. Buy great property, screen well and treat your clients like real people and you shouldn’t have that many serious problems. Good luck and happy land lording.
Our latest blog post.....see this post and more here
