Run Away! Do not lease to the person who says...

 It's been a stressful couple of weeks in the landlording game. We're doing a turn after our original tenants from our original rental property moved out and well, it needed some work. A water leak was discovered in the closet, there was damage to the flooring, it needed painted and lots of little things.

And it's not over yet! Next, I will need to choose the new tenants. I had the property listed in early July, thinking I would show it while my tenants moved out and I had a bunch of inquiries in the couple of days it was listed. I ultimately decided not to show it until they moved because of COVID-19 and wow am I glad I made that decision because it needed a little TLC.

Choosing the new tenants is the most important landlord decision you can make. The wrong choice can lead to months of stress and turmoil. A good choice leads to a smooth year (or years!) of on-time payments and a few maintenance requests.

The funny thing about showing someone a house is they will tell you all kinds of things! These are the things to look out for...

I can pay cash today. I can pay X months in cash upfront.

Most of the things on this list are to entice you into taking the money and not looking too closely at the applicant. Why would you not take the cash? Well, ask yourself, why would someone volunteer to pay in cash or several months in advance? What kind of business are they in that they have a large amount of cash?

I might take cash if the person still has a credit and a background check but if they are offering it to get you not to run one that's a no.

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My last landlord was terrible.

Ok, I am not naive enough to think all landlords are great but I don't want to be the person they are trashing to their next landlord. Especially if they call them a slumlord. Well, if they place was a slum why did you rent it in the first place? Was it the only place that would accept you because of X? It makes me wonder.

I am looking at it for a friend moving from....

I no longer rent to anyone who doesn't come and look at the place in person. I have done it twice and once was fine but the other time, wow was it a disaster. They moved in and promptly complained about everything - including there being bugs outside! The list of complaints was probably 20 items and included several things I couldn't fix but that was the one which really got to me! They moved out in less than a month and I was very happy to see them go.

Never again. I have had people ask and I tell them all no.

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I need to move immediately.

I think sometimes prospects say this because they think it's what I want to hear but actually it can be a red flag. Good tenants are people who plan their lives and know where they are going to live in advance. Sometimes there could be a reason you need to move on short notice but I'm still doing a background check and it'd going to be at least a week before you can move into my unit.

If it's around the end of the month, they might also be skipping out on their current landlord before they can be evicted.

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A few years ago, I had an application for my house from three people and they were eager to move in. They submitted their paperwork and I got background checks back for two of them right away. For some reason the third person's background check said "pending." After two days, they emailed me and asked what the hold up was and his background check still said pending, I told them I was sorry but I had to wait until it came back and that it usually didn't take this long. Another couple of days go by and they told me they decided they didn't want the house and were going to move elsewhere.

I was super green at this time and hadn't used this service before and I didn't know what was going on. Now I think he didn't authorize the background check as it never came back and every other one I've done since then has come back in 24 hours or less.

I don't report my income on my taxes.

Yes people have told me this! Nothing like confessing a federal crime to a stranger! Self-employed people have a hard time verifying their income for rentals, well if you are lying your on your taxes it's going to be even harder.

Any lies!

Not just lying to the government, but if you lie to me about anything at any time during the application process, I will not rent to you. If there is anything in your credit or background check that doesn't match what you told me, it's not going to bode well for your application.

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I need you to work with me...

This usually is code for "I don't meet the requirements you listed" and will be followed with a reasonable sounding excuse. I am very careful to make sure everyone follows the same process and meets the same requirements. Not only is it a good business practice, it's important to make sure you're following fair housing regulation to treat everyone the same.

I would love to hear from other landlords what are your red flags? Or maybe you are more flexible than I am on some of these items?