Peter Lohmann explains why landlords should resist pressure when a tenant wants to move in immediately. A sudden rush is often a red flag for eviction or other problems. Always run your full screening checklist: rental application, proof of income, and reference checks from previous landlords.
So sometimes as a property owner or landlord, you may have a resident who's chomping at the bit and ready to move in right away. So you're showing the property or your property manager is showing the unit to the resident and they're like, "Okay, I love this place. I've got the security deposit. I'm ready to go. When can I sign the lease?" And our response to that is always, "Whoa, whoa, let's slow things down a little bit." we need to make sure we go through our proper processes and a checklist actually that we use for every rental application that we process, you know, and, you know, I won't detail the whole checklist here, but it includes obvious things like they need to submit a rental application, they need to submit proof of income, then we need to verify with their current previous landlord and make sure they have good references. So we have actually found that residents who are rushing you and pushing to move in right away that can sometimes be a little bit of a red flag. If they are waiting to the last minute to move into a new property, or if they're suddenly in a rush, kind of makes you wonder, you know, are they being evicted or what's the situation here? So I know it can be exciting, you know, to the prospect of filling your unit right away. Just don't be, don't be swayed by a persuasive tenant who's, you know, talking your ear off about what a great tenant they're going to be. Go ahead and go through your standard checks and procedures, and that's going to maximize your chances of getting an excellent tenant in your rental property.
