Number 1: Never rent to friends or family.

Here's a tip for landlords: have repairs done on time by a qualified professional instead of letting a family member that has no idea what they're doing on the cheap. You will pay more in the long run.

I have been an owner/landlord for 13 years. Biggest thing I have learned is it is 100% better to leave your property empty for as long as it takes to find a suitable tenant than to quickly fill the space with the wrong person. Learned from experience, you will get burned.

This is one to know. Great prospective tenants. Very personable, attractive, young. Said all the right things. Very complimentary. Nice clean expensive car. Thought there was no way could be a bad candidate. Ment applicant four times. Each time great, easy going, attentive, polite, and just one of those people that seemed a great person. Went ahead and did background check anyway as part of policy, though thought really no need. Turns out car applicant was driving had payments overdue, rent was overdue at place renting, bad debt. I was amazed. Best lesson. Now I understand why people get scammed. It is because the scammer is such a great actor. Should win an academy award. Remember to stick to your policy. Probably would have taken forever to get this prospective tenant out. Feel sorry for the next person this artist scammes. Con artist are really good at what they do. Keep alert.

My tip: don’t rent to anyone who tries to make you feel sorry for them. This is a red flag for me. There should be no drama. A great tenant will have good references from previous landlords, good credit, and most importantly, can easily afford my rent w/o living on the edge. Lease signed, keys transferred, easy peasy. No drama. I know it’s cold, but my rental is my asset, and I’m not gonna let just anybody in. Someone comes up to you and says “help, I need to find someone to marry, or something bad will happen to me!”, you’re not gonna just hand over your daughter, and go, oh ok, you can marry her, are you? Hell no! I have even less sympathy nowadays with the Internet being available, and people doing nothing to clean up their credit, or wanting to transact in cash only, or lie to me outright. If you don’t have the hard stuff to be a landlord, don’t do it.

To tenants: Screen your landlords. Carefully. These people have keys to your homes and all of your possessions.

here's a landlord tip,don't think that if a tenant pays rent for 5-6-7 years the unit should look like the day they moved in,give up that security deposit and let them move on

Water mark GREAT TIP.

Never put all your faith in property managers.

Have the notebook be a three ring binder. Encourage tenants to have a comparable binder. Have tips build on each other. Put it in the lease that any requests, etc. be in writing. When they make such a request, photocopy the request and put it in the binder. Also, consider having a digital camera. When you go to make an inspection of the home, photograph its condition. Put this in your binder.

I wish my landlord/owner (same person) would: 1) accept electronic payments, and 2) give at least a 24-hours notice before entering my apartment, instead of a same day notice.

Here's my biggest tip. If you've got a good tenant don't put up their rent ever. Better a good tenant than losing that tenant and ending up with a deadbeat.

I offered 5 months rent up front because it was so hard to get a place. It showed i was serious and reliable and they gave me the place.

That breakbeat with the vibe samples and the squeeling horns is bangin. My head is still nodding, even though the groove is over.

Thanks for sharing! Excellent tips that most landlords wouldn't consider until they learned the hard way.

Another tip is to put the minimum credit score you accept and that you require an income 3 times more than the monthly rent amount. I also add the fact that there is a 50 dollar non refundable credit and criminal background check. 8 yrs a landlord. Zero evictions. Only a handful of times rent was late by a few days.

The trick of asking "How many animals do you have?" instead of "Do you have any animals?" (the general form of which is "What kind/amount of x do you have?" instead of "Do you have x?") can be applied to pretty much any domain. It makes it psychologically harder for people to get out of giving you what you want.

I have been a successful landlord for 10 years. I treat all my tenants like they are my most important customer. Because they are. And they usually treat me well in return.

I once rented a house where I had to write a letter & send it to a P. O. Box along with my references & info. I actually thought that was a great idea because the owner was able to see who was motivated enough to go to the trouble to do it, plus none of the applicants knew who else was trying to get it or what order he received the letters in. That way he had time to select who he truly wanted without anyone yelling discrimination. BTW I was the one who got the house. Nice little place. Lived there until I got married 25 years ago.

One of the biggest things for me is income to rent ratio. I always require 3X monthly rent for income. People will sometimes get angry, but I would rather turn someone down from the start than accept a tenant I know I'm going to have to evict within 6 months because they can't afford rent plus life expenses. Landlords beware, when someone hits a crunch, you will be the LAST to be paid.

This advice sounds really good, this channel and the podcasts are so helpful and motivating! Can't wait to buy my first rental!

Wow, after reading several hate replies from tenants, I wanted to comment. I am an average person trying to plan for the future and have a rental unit. I am sorry for those tenants who have a sad place to live with an owner who doesn’t fix and repair. This vid is for honest landlords trying to keep up their property. Having a rental property is NOT free money as most still have a mortgage, there are taxes to pay on the income and property, insurance, and repairs like roofs to consider long term. Two thirds of my tenants have been great but I have to ask for enough rent to insure I have money to fix things now and at move out. You don’t get champagne by paying for soda. And, I have had a few bad apples that have a sad story every other month why they can’t pay on time, which means my bills don’t get paid on time. It took me months to evict after non payment resulting in loss of rent, court costs, another month with costs to clean and repair, and a court order to pay my back rent which I will most likely never see. I appreciate these tips to avoid bad apples. Renters, don’t move into non-working rental, check the tenant rights in your town, keep records, and buy renters insurance that protects your property.

From the UK and looking into rental. 90% of your advise is also relevant over here. Many thanks

the most nice and honest way to ask for thump ups on a video, great video !!!

I had to evict someone. She said she didn't read the lease and didn't realize she was going to get evicted for non payment. Judge told her that it didn't matter whether or not she read the lease. She signed and initialed.

Always require pest control in the rental agreement.

This women is great, a natural teacher! Thank you!!

Great tips. I never thought about taking a look at the vehicle. 100% makes sense. 👍

Another tip: If you own rental property in a military community, check to see if the local base has a BHA (Basic Housing Allowance) program. Rent is based on local standards and fair averages. I don't have to advertise. I let them know when a property is available and in less than 2 weeks, there's a tenant. No excuses and no late payments. Since the rental is tied to their career, they tend to respect it more. Now, I only rent through BHA programs.

With that notebook, if all went well between landlord and tenant, don't throw the notebook away.. give the notebook to the former tenent! This way, if they ever come across a slumlord and has to take them to court, they can prove they've been an upstanding tenant in the past. Works both ways, everybody wins!

Excellent advice that I already follow. Because of following these types of guidelines I have never had any problem in court other than a judge predisposed to favor tenants and even then I have never not prevailed in court. Relative to the ultimate failure in the landlord/tenant relationship... court... you want to walk into that situation with ALL your ducks in a row because the burden of proof is on you, the plaintiff. Understand your claims, back them up with your local statutes governing landlord/tenant law, and hope that the tenant can actually pay the awarded damages. You are likely to prevail if you are prepared, but you are just as likely to leave court with a piece of paper for all your trouble called a judgment that has as much value as toilet paper if the tenant does not have the ability or credit worthiness to pay. Pick you battles carefully in this arena and make sure it is worth the fight, because at this point it is a fight usually. Happy landlording!

Oregon, here...as a tenent, your tips protect good tenents from bad landlords!!!

Watermarks and cross streets. BRILLIANT!! That is friggin golden and I actually hadn't thought of that before. Thanks!

great tips. i am the homeowner who rents out other rooms in my house. i added pet policy, late rent policy, smoking policy, but most importantly, overnight guess policy. it's also easier to maintain this because i have motion-sensored security cam front and back door.

I used to do the car inspection too. Also a giveaway when they say they're non smokers and the ash tray is full.

This was really informative treat your landlord as a true business! People get mad at you and they want to make up things always leave a paper trail and witness if possible!

Also keep a record of all payments and expenses such as repairs. It definitely helps come tax time.

Regarding scammers stealing your listing: I had a landlord that has to deal with this and he came up with a great solution. He had a large advertisement signs place inside on all windows that clearly stated "For Rent by SO AND SO INC. CAll:000 000 000 and Speake to John if our interested in this property" He also had an external security camera on the property so he would be alerted if someone was on the property. My area has a serious problem with scammers, and he found a good way to deal with them. Regarding record keeping: Google doc's is a much better way to go, and share it with the tennant /landlord

Great advice! Thanks Mindy!

I'm 46 years old & have been renting for 26 years. If there are any young people out there new to renting, I would like you to have the chance to benefit from others' experiences. Landlords & property managers are skilled, comfortable liars. I have had a landlord(meaning, the owner of the property, as opposed to a property manager, who's not the owner. If someone manages their own property I call them a landlord) bring brand new blinds into my apartment, still in their original package, dump the blinds in the package in my apartment, saying they will be installed, & then NEVER install them for months on end. Why did he want to replace the shades with blinds? Certainly not because the shades were damaged by me in any way(they weren't); it was his own thing that he decided, by himself, to do, said he would do it, & then never did it. When I moved out a year later, there they were on the floor behind my couch, still unopened. I had a property manager who said he would have the washing machine in the laundry room repaired; months went by before he did it. I had a landlady who had no hot water in the laundry room; all laundry could only be done with cold water. Not lying, just cheap & greedy. Landlords assume everyone is a slob & a deadbeat; I am neither. My excellent behavior as a renter(I always respect other people's property; I never fail to pay the rent in full and on time) does not improve the treatment I get from landlords & property managers. More examples: When I moved into my current apartment, my move-in date was the 22nd of the month. The property manager(I'll just call her Dingbat) asked, "Do you want me to calculate your rent for the last 8 days of this month, plus rent for next month, plus your move-in costs, & give you one amount due?" I said yes, so I can just write one check. She added it up, wrote down an amount, & I wrote the check( a perfectly good check, of course) & gave it to her. Two weeks later when I got home from work, there was a THREAT TO EVICT ME posted on my door! An _official_ threat, with legalese, & words like "law" & "sheriff." An official threat to evict me for non-payment! The property manager, it turned out, had no ability to keep track of money. I took the notice off the door, wrote a note on the back explaining why I didn't owe any more money, & left it on the stupid bitch's desk the next day. She took back her stupid threat to evict me. BUT WAIT--THERE'S MORE! Fast forward one year, same apartment. There's a new property manager(I'll call her Thief). What to my wondering eyes should appear on my door but a threat to evict me for non-payment; this, after I had paid the rent faithfully, on time, in full, every month, without fail. I took the notice to Thief's office & demanded an explanation. Thief explained that, one year prior, Dingbat had put the wrong rent amount on the rental agreement that she & I had both signed; it should have been a higher number, Thief explained. Therefore, Thief reasoned, I SHOULD HAVE been writing larger rent checks all along; therefore, Thief concluded, I owed all that back rent. I was in disbelief! I told Thief that if she did not agree with the rent amount that Dingbat put on the rental agreement on year prior, then that was an administrative issue between Thief & Dingbat. Thief seemed to back off a little. I told Thief to shred the stupid threat to evict me, & she tore it up. She never tried to extort more money from me again. Dingbat was incompetent, & Thief was without ethics. What would have happened if I had been easier to intimidate, if, for example, my English wasn't the best & I didn't understand how ridiculous these threats to evict me were? How many people, good renters like me who landlords WISH they could have, have gotten out their checkbook & given more money that they didn't even owe??? I have several more examples but no inclination to go into all of it; this is already a long comment. And so, keep your guard up, my friends. If you are a good renter, keep that front & center, talk about it, be assertive about it, never let them forget that THEY are lucky to have YOU as a renter(if it's true). Don't want to sound like a braggart? You heard the woman in the video: "Tell renters what you want them to know." Likewise. Remember, landlords & property managers will lie to you handily. Do not ever trust or believe them; assume they are greedy, lazy & without ethics. This does NOT mean treat them like crap; it means be savvy, know your rights, be cynical, NEVER be fooled by their friendliness, contact a lawyer or tenants' rights organization if necessary, & predict they worst, most irresponsible conduct from them. I have been renting for 26 years & I assure you this is the most realistic view.

My former slumlords refused to have a lease, it was month to month only, and they were never available to fix anything (if they couldn't fix something themselves, it never got fixed). They were always in Europe, no one ever minded their property and they wanted tenants to pay for repairs and they would 'reimburse' them (never). When I abandoned the apartment for a favorable situation they didn't care - they were heavy drinkers and partied all the time, spending their parents' inheritance (they bragged about this). I imagine that the money is going to run out soon.

Thanks Mindy, great info.

In many countries, tenants need a Co-Signer. The Co-Signer is listed and the lease with the tenants, and understands their legal obligations. That could be a family member or a friend, but NOT someone who is allowed to reside in the rental unit. If the Tenant defaults on the rent, the Co-Signer can be sued for the missing rent!

This is an awesome video with great tips. I plan to watch again!

Great video and thanks. I've own two 4 family flats for over ten years and only three bad tenants. My three tips when it comes to screening; 1. Beware the prospective tenant that wants a five year lease before they see the place. 2. Beware the prospective tenant that wants to pay the first four months in advance (especially in cash). 3. Beware the prospective tenant that makes the excuse "this may be a craigslist scam so I'm only giving half a deposit until lease signing".

My mom had a rental property in Chicago back in 70’s. Her big screening tactic- she would drive by and even visit applicants at current residence to ask a question or something- so she could see the state of property they were wanting to leave. Boy did that cause a lot of “screen outs”!

Great video. I'm a somewhat new landlord. I've been keeping track of rent payments, but I didn't consider repairs. Thanks!

Mindy - excellent video with expert advice - thank you.

On #3 (for prospective tenants) check property records if possible and make sure the “landlord” is the owner. That way you can make sure you’re not unknowingly being a squatter!!

"My" car (my husband's car), always has trash in it and is pretty much never vacuumed, but my condo is always clean... So, while it's true for most people, it's not true for all.

I agree to all of these points mentioned! Have you ever heard about civil forfeiture? This is something you want to avoid happening to any of your properties! That is why as a landlord, it is important to conduct a comprehensive background check to ensure that the prospect tenant you're dealing with is free from any illegal activities that may lead to the law enforcement seizing your property if it happens to be an accessory, place, or was used to conduct illegal activities such as illegal drugs and money laundering.

Watermarks.... excellent idea! We have had a number of rentals including a very nice, newer apartment building. My management company did an excellent job. We are in transition. Sold our home and are currently renting. The owner is doing a terrible job! Maybe he's afraid of vacancies, but he rents to good valid tenants one day, and trailer trash the next day. Result: the good tenants leave and the property degrades. Screen tenants very well.

This is so funny. I have a landlord that lives in the same duplex with me And he is just as dishonest and slum as the tenants your speaking of. I've learned A lot of landlords are slum. They say they REALLY want GREAT tenants and when they finally get their dream tenants they crap on them

I used to pay up front at tax season. I didn't pay it all, but would pay a large chunk so that my monthly payment wasn't so draining through out the year. :)

Thank you for the notebook idea! Awesome.

Excellent detailed information for newbie & experienced! :) Thx "B.P." & MINDY!

Never. EVER believe "I always go outside to smoke".

What is the purpose for not publishing the actual address of the home and publishing the cross streets instead? If I see a rental ad where the address is not stated, I assume it's because the place is a dump so I skip calling that ad.

Great advice! I always sign the lease agreement at their place so I can see their way of living.

This is a great example of advertisement done right. Thanks.

I call bullshit on the "snooping inside their car" tip.. my car is an absolute mess but I keep my house super clean.. the difference is I dont live, eat or sleep in my car, I spend less than an hour in my car every week so its just not as high on my priority list to keep clean.. Another thing Ive learned from living in rentals and having both parents own multiple rental properties is that tenants with children are faaaaar more destructive to a house than tenants with pets.. my parents never had a tenant with pets draw on all the walls or put a hole in the wall, or clog the sewerage system and flood a section of the house.. but these have all happened multiple times when they have tenants with kids..

Tip 1: know what your and your tenant’s rights and responsibilities are. The amount of landlords and tenants that aren’t aware of these is astounding. Tenants really should do their research too but it’s downright embarrassing to be an LL who doesn’t know that they’re legally responsible for maintenance etc.

Good video. I have some thoughts and a question - don't know if you're in to questions. . For years you can get a perfectly valid, state recognized tenant lease agreement off the internet. Nolo has one as does rocket lawyer, etc. Totally legit, free... . You needn't worry about out of country scammers who say 'change locks,' if you follow your BEST tip ever - don't EVER, EVER, EVER put the property address in the listing. So glad you put that in there. . U.S. Mail is not a good idea "we didn't get it..." . I'm not on your scale for sure. I've been a landlord in California, Washington and in England though - again I'm small potatoes but here's a tip - NEVER give the address out until you speak to a prospective tenant on the phone. If they're afraid to speak on the phone or do everything 'only' by email or text - SKIP EM.' Questions: I've been burned by references. Dudes with great clothes, good brains, fantastic jobs and great references ended up being serious alcoholics I had to evict. Any advice? Thank you!

If the property has air conditioning use a maintenance guy to visit every month to 'clean' the filters. It is a free service for the tenant and it is also an opportunity to inspect. Same for cleaning windows, or even an included cleaning service. Works pretty well. It keeps the place tidy and clean which is a bonus for the tenant and the land lord. Works great for tenants that have a busy live.

Tip for landlords - Your property must be up to building codes before you rent it. Nothing is "grandfathered" after the lease is signed. Tip for Renters, Fuse Boxes with the old screw-in fuses haven't been allowed in most building codes since the late '80's. If you see one of these, RUN!

Solid advice. I do admit that my desire to be a landlord slipped away when I was hired to clean out a house after the tenants left suddenly. And more recently, my next-door neighbors ended up burning down a house they'd rented out to the worst people in the world, apparently. The costs involved in adequate cleaning were higher than the value of the house. Meth labs are no joke.

Great tips. I keep my records on Google drive so I always have access to them!

Wonderful advise. I am a landlord in South Africa, a mine field of laws. Here the landlord is always wrong and the poor tenant, oh so poor tenant is always right. One advise I got long time ago "Thought does not stand up in court" WRITE IT DOWN, RECORD IT, AND COVER IT.

here's a tip for landlords,don't trust the former landlord contact info,it could be someone they know,check with city hall records to confirm the contact name owns the property they say they lived in

We’ve had our rental property since May 2018 and we already had to evict our tenants for failure to pay and abandonment. They left all their belongings in the house and over 50 bags of trash... currently waiting to file a Writ Of Possession. I honestly want to sell the rental because of the struggle we’ve had with these people 😑 edit to also say that our county magistrate provides a free lease on their website and you can add/delete things on the lease.

Experienced landlords are experienced because they have experienced experience

THANK YOU!! This is wonderful!!

Mom, taught me about checking the car, about 40 years ago. Excellent addition not always thought of.

Tenants screaming, "snakes!" Was what I heard

I need more vids from you you are a genius thanks so much mindy ❤️

Excellent Advise, Thank you.

I've been on both sides - rental and landlord. Most of this is us vs. them attitude, and treating potential tenants like adversaries creates a bad situation right off the top. If this is how you feel, use a property management company.

im not a landlord. im a tenant, it makes sense that if i do good and earn trust that i should be trusted and have an easier happier life, but if i take advantage, abuse, do illegal things i shouldn't be trusted, both tenants and landlords have aright to be safe and not have their livelihood put in danger

Tip #7 Do not take partial rent payments, post a 3 day notice as soon as they re late, and be ready to file an eviction if you want to be a successful landlord. I even learned how to fix Acs and do pluming repairs. I even renovated many apts in my complex. Your rental will not look the same even after few months of renting it, So be ready to do a lot of cleaning, patching holes, replacing doors and even appliances. Good Luck.

Great video and very enlightening. I never gave Billy Wilder much thought until now. I'll be incorporating his technique to as many of my scripts as possible. Thank you. PS: Will you make more of these videos?

I’ve been denied so many times by landlords and unknown To them I use to be a successful real estate agent and I’m qualified for the majority of apartments here where I live... landlords just refuse to have certain individuals live in their property no matter what....then complain about the homelessness in the community, up charge on rent, never fix anything. They demand a $1600 monthly rent apartment to brokers fee, first and last month rent, income must be 3x the rent, credit score of 650/700 or above. Like that’s is something half of Americans don’t ever get to see in their life but pay rent at the same amount and make less... the real estate market needs to change ......

Every point is great. I especially liked the one about checking out the potential renter's car interior. Thats golden. And also the pet question.

Very helpful and insightful tips. Thanks!

Excellent information here Wendy!

You forgot to say that a landlord should bank the security deposit. Place it in a savings account so should a reason arise that you will need to return the deposit You will have the cash on hand

Always interesting to learn about the landlord's perspective on things. I have a love-hate mindset about landlords. Most of my life, either I (or my parents) have been tenants. I can certainly relate to the tenant side of the fence! :-)... However, I do hope to get into real estate investing. Not sure if I would ever want to be a landlord, but it's always a possibility. Knowing what I know from my own experiences, the challenge is to be ethical, respectful, and have a good heart. Yet maintain a firm stance, and run a profitable rental.

Yall shortened the learning curve for me. I learned never deal with potential tenants with evictions. Thank you.

I take a good look at them,, that tells me almost everything every time.

From personal experience I can tell you the part about somebody's car is 100% correct.

What do you do about slum landlords that don't want to fix anything but want to change a arm in a leg for rent.

Also if your landlord or management company is not up to speed on the current laws in your city/state you do not want to rent from them. Here in California the law changed at the start of 2020 and also changed move because of COVID. A landlord can NOT discriminate based on age, race, religion, gender, sexual orientation, and source of income (from a housing voucher or co-signer), if the tenant can pay the monthly rental amount you can't deny them housing by saying they don't earn a certain amount of money or that the unit they applied to is rented or tell them you don't take their source of income. Many landlords are getting in big trouble for this because they are uneducated on the newer laws, especially landlords that own smaller properties. Do your research and choose an apartment community wisely. If you feel you have been discriminated against you need to contact local authorities and they will take action. Also be sure to check reviews online at certain properties to find out how they treat their tenants, MOST properties now have reviews online.

That was very helpful! Thank you Mindy

So, I'm listening to her and if I was going to rent from someone that was doing all these things there is a very high probability that I would pass on whatever the property was. Protect yourself, sure, but don't make your customers feel like criminals. I don't shop at home depot for this very reason.

Great advice! I think you mentioned that Brandon has a Tenant Screening List. Would I be able to find that on the website and if so where?

Good video Mindy...thanks!

Great tips. You're fantastic!

If you're not cut out to be a landlord, you can still become rich in real estate, Higher a management team to work the property rental.

Always get a signed move-in/move-out checklist in case the tenant moving out says "oh, that broken closet door was like that when I moved in". If it wasn't broken on move-in, then it's definitely the tenant's responsibility. If it was broken on move-in and then fixed after move-in, then get the tenant to sign the satisfactory repair completion statement.

Good information on electronic signatures and electronic transactions.

Great advice and very thorough!