🏡 How to Get Excellent Tenants for Your Rental Properties: Top 10 Rules for Landlord
- C. Alvarez, Real Estate Investor
- Aug 4
- 7 min read
Updated: Aug 6
Stay organized, stay protected, and set your rental up for success.
Whether you own one rental unit or a portfolio of properties, having great tenants is the key to long-term success. Good tenants pay rent on time, treat your property with respect, and stay longer—saving you money, time, and stress. But how do you actually find them?
Here are 10 essential steps every landlord should follow to secure top-tier tenants:
1. Treat Your Rental Like a Business
Owning a rental property isn’t just a side hustle—it’s a business. And just like any successful business, it requires structure, professionalism, and a long-term strategy.
Think about it: If you ran a retail store, would you let just anyone walk in and take what they want? Would you skip out on contracts, policies, or tracking your profits? Of course not. So why would you do that with your property worth hundreds of thousands of dollars?
Here’s what it really means to treat your rental like a business:
Mindset Shift: You’re the CEO
Start by changing the way you think. You’re not “just a landlord”—you’re a real estate entrepreneur managing an income-generating asset. That means your time, your standards, and your property have value. Every decision should support profitability and long-term stability.
Running your rental like a business sets the tone. It keeps you organized, makes you more money, and attracts better tenants—because great tenants recognize and respect professionalism.
Treat it casually, and you'll deal with chaos. Treat it like a business, and you’ll build wealth.
2. List Your Property with Professional Photos & Clear Criteria
If you want to attract excellent tenants, you have to think like one. High-quality renters are selective—they're comparing your property to dozens of others online. That means your listing is your first impression... and it better be a strong one.
Just like you wouldn’t show up to a job interview in sweatpants, don’t post a blurry, poorly written rental listing and expect to attract the best.
Photos are everything in a listing. A tenant will decide in seconds whether they want to click or scroll based on your pictures alone.
Your listing is your storefront. Poor-quality listings attract poor-quality tenants—or no tenants at all. But when you showcase your property like a pro and set clear expectations upfront, you create a natural filter for the best renters.
You don’t need 100 inquiries. You need 3 qualified ones—and one excellent tenant.
3. Pre-Screen Before You Show
Showings can be time-consuming, awkward, and sometimes… completely pointless.
If you’ve ever cleaned up a unit, driven across town, and waited around only to meet someone who:
Can’t move in for another three months,
Has three pit bulls in a no-pet property,
Or has no income...
Then you already know why pre-screening is essential.
Before you schedule a showing, take a few minutes to ask a handful of key questions. This simple step filters out unqualified renters, protects your time, and creates a more professional, streamlined leasing process.
Pre-screening isn’t just about efficiency—it sets the tone. When prospects see you have a process, they take the rental—and you—more seriously. Plus, it allows you to focus on renters who are the right fit from the start.
Questions to Ask (and Why They Matter)
Why are you moving? Helps spot red flags. If they were evicted, had landlord drama, or constantly move—it’s worth digging deeper.
When are you looking to move in? If your unit is ready now and they’re not moving for 60 days, they’re likely not your tenant.
How many people will be living in the unit? Too many occupants for the space can violate local codes—and increase wear and tear.
Do you have any pets? Ask for breed, weight, and number of pets. Even if your listing says “no pets,” many people will still apply. It’s better to catch this early.
What’s your monthly income? The standard is 3x the monthly rent. If rent is $2,000, their monthly gross income should be at least $6,000.
Are you currently employed? Get a sense of job stability. Bonus points if they’re full-time, have been at their job for a while, and can provide proof of income.
Will you agree to a background and credit check? If they hesitate, be cautious. Quality tenants expect and respect proper screening.
Have you ever been evicted or convicted of a crime? Give them the opportunity to explain any past issues early.
Do you have any questions about the property or requirements? This opens the door for transparency and helps catch dealbreakers early.
Bonus: It’s a Time Filter and a Respect Filter
Good tenants will respect your process and be happy to answer a few simple questions. Unqualified or unreliable ones? They’ll disappear—saving you the stress of no-shows and awkward conversations.
You’re not running a free open house—you’re selecting a qualified customer for a high-value asset. Pre-screening cuts out 80% of the noise, saves hours of time, and sets the stage for finding the right tenant—not just the first one.
4. Require a Solid Rental Application
A rental application isn’t just paperwork — it’s the first filter in identifying whether a tenant is reliable, financially stable, and respectful of your lease terms. The more detailed and complete the application, the easier it is to make a smart, compliant, and confident decision.
If you're serious about finding great tenants for your rental property, this step can’t be rushed or skipped.
Why You Should Never Accept Incomplete Applications
Accepting a half-filled or vague rental application is like hiring someone off a blank résumé. If a prospective tenant isn’t willing to provide the basic information you need to evaluate them, it’s a red flag.
A complete application gives you everything you need to:
Run a proper tenant background check
Verify income and employment
Contact former landlords
Stay compliant with Fair Housing laws
Pro Tip: Use a Standardized Rental Application Form
Use a digital or printable application form that’s state-specific and legally compliant. Consider using platforms like:
RentSpree
Avail
Zillow Rental Manager
Apartments.com Landlord Tools
These platforms often integrate with credit/background checks and save everything digitally for easy recordkeeping.
A thorough rental application isn’t a formality—it’s your first layer of protection as a landlord. When done right, it sets the tone for a professional relationship, helps avoid problem tenants, and builds the foundation for a smooth lease experience.
Don’t settle for vague info. A solid application leads to solid tenants—and fewer headaches.
5. Run a Credit Check
When screening tenants for your rental property, one of the most telling indicators of future behavior is their credit history. While it’s not the only factor, a credit check offers valuable insight into how responsibly an applicant handles their financial obligations—and whether they’re likely to pay rent on time.
If you're serious about protecting your rental income and avoiding evictions, running a credit check is a non-negotiable step in your tenant screening process.
A tenant’s credit report reflects their financial habits over time. It can reveal:
Patterns of missed or late payments
Outstanding debts
Collections and charge-offs
Bankruptcy history
Judgments and public records
In short, it helps answer the question: Can this person be trusted to make monthly rent payments on time?
6. Verify Employment & Income
Verifying a tenant’s income is one of the most critical steps in the rental application process. While a credit score shows how a tenant has managed debt in the past, confirming employment and income tells you whether they have the financial stability to pay rent now and in the future.
If you’re not verifying income and job status, you’re gambling with your cash flow. And in real estate investing, that’s a risk you can’t afford.
7. Contact Previous Landlords
Many landlords skip this step—but calling a tenant’s previous landlord is one of the most underrated yet powerful screening tools in the entire rental application process. While a credit score and income verification tell you about financial stability, a landlord reference tells you how a tenant actually behaved in someone else’s rental property.
If you want to avoid late payments, excessive damage, and tenant drama, this step is gold.
8. Perform a Criminal Background Check
As a landlord or property manager, your number one responsibility—after protecting your investment—is to ensure the safety of your property, neighborhood, and other tenants. That’s why running a criminal background check on prospective tenants is a must-do step in your tenant screening process.
While not every criminal record is an automatic dealbreaker, knowing the facts upfront allows you to make an informed, fair, and risk-conscious decision.
9. Trust Your Gut—but Back It with Data
When it comes to choosing a tenant, your instincts can play a helpful role—especially if you’ve been in the rental game for a while. But no matter how sharp your gut feeling is, it should never be the sole deciding factor.
Why? Because decisions based purely on “vibes” or subjective impressions can lead to inconsistent results, legal trouble, and missed red flags. The best way to select high-quality tenants is to combine intuition with hard data—and to make sure your entire screening process is compliant with fair housing laws.
10. Use a Written Lease & Collect a Security Deposit
Once you’ve screened and selected the right tenant, your next move is crucial: sealing the deal with a written lease agreement and collecting a security deposit. This step turns a handshake into a legally enforceable agreement—and it’s where many DIY landlords drop the ball.
If you want to avoid confusion, missed rent, damage disputes, or legal headaches down the road, you need to treat your lease like a binding business contract. Because that’s exactly what it is.
Final Thoughts
Finding reliable tenants isn’t luck—it’s a system. From listing your rental property with high-quality photos to running thorough background, credit, and rental history checks, every step in the tenant screening process is designed to protect your time, income, and investment.
By treating your rental like a business, verifying income, requiring complete applications, and enforcing clear lease agreements with a security deposit, you’ll attract the kind of tenants who pay on time, respect your property, and stay long term.
If your goal is to build lasting cash flow, reduce turnover, and avoid legal issues, then following these landlord best practices is the key to success.
Finding great tenants takes time, systems, and consistency—but you don’t have to do it alone. At Prime Property Assistant, we help busy landlords and out-of-state investors streamline their rental operations with professional, behind-the-scenes support.
Virtual Property Assistant services are designed to help you simplify, support, and scale.
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