Once you have a property ready to rent, there are some crucial steps to take before someone moves in.

1) Visit the site www.rentometer.com and compare the rent you are charging to other market norms in your area. This is a rough barometer as to where your property is in relation to the rest of the market.

2) Become a tenant for a day and check out your competitors properties. That’s right, you actually become a tenant for a day and visit other people’s places for rent. It is free and you will learn a lot about how your unit compares to others.  Do they answer the phone professionally and/or get back to you quickly?  How do the suites show?  Do they follow up?  These are the types of things to look out for and see how you can improve your marketing efforts.

3) If you have to choose between taking a questionable tenant and leaving a property vacant, please leave it vacant. The last thing you want is to be featured on world’s worst tenants as I mentioned in a previous post.