Housing Related Problems

How you find yourself in a situation where your rental property has become a nightmare?

You can avoid many of the problems before they happen just by knowing all the potential pitfalls during the process of renting your property.

If you’re offering a property for lease, it’s important to be aware of every details.

Search the renter’s name and email address to see if others have flagged them.

Use a tenant background check, also known as a consumer report.

Learn more from the Federal Trade Commission about legal background checks.

Before renting your property, meet the prospective tenant or the person who will pay the rent.

Conduct an image search of your property, because an imposter may use images of your property to create their own listings as part of a scam.

Request each renter’s personal references and follow up with those individuals.

Carefully verify your renter’s income.

Don’t accept overpayment for rental properties.

If you receive a check that’s for more than the specified amount, return it. Do not deposit it.

Don’t rent or sell to a would-be tenant or buyer sight unseen.

Don’t accept a cashier’s check from your potential tenant if he or she is out of the country.

Don’t fall for an unexplained urgency to rent the property.

Scammers may offer to «help» you make your mortgage payments, but they’re just trying to take your money.

Find out how to detect, report, and protect yourself against these scams.

These are some of the issues than can arise but there can be others.

That’s why it’s strongly recommended to have a professional, a real estate broker, to look into all the in and outs of renting a property.