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Real estate investing can be a great way to build wealth over time. When you invest in real estate, you don’t just get a second home that you can visit on the weekends or a beautiful space to throw parties; you also get an asset that can generate cash flow.

If your goal is to build long-term wealth through real estate investing, buying properties that will generate income from rent is essential.

In this article, we’ll explain what it means to buy a property that will earn you rent and give you pointers on where to find properties like these and how much you should pay for them. Let’s dive in!

What Does It Mean to Buy a Property That Will Earn You Rent?

If you buy a property that you can rent out, you’re essentially operating as a landlord. If you’ve ever been a landlord, you know it can be a full-time job, but it’s worth it if you can find the right tenants and charge a fair price for the rent.

And if you’re buying a property that will be rented out and generating your income, you want to make sure to buy a property that will give you a good chance of having great tenants, paying rent reliably on time, and having a low vacancy rate.

How to Find Properties That Earn You Rent

Before you start looking for properties that will earn you rent, you need to have a specific type of property in mind.

If you don’t know what kind of property you’re looking for, you’ll have a much harder time finding the right one. Here are a few things to think about when choosing a property:

Location – This may sound obvious, but it’s one of the most important factors when picking a property to buy.

You want to make sure your property is in a neighborhood that will appeal to tenants.

When picking a neighborhood, consider factors like crime rates, local schools, job growth, public transportation, and walkability.

You should also make sure the neighborhood has a below-average vacancy rate.

Property type – You’ll want to choose a tenant-friendly property type, such as a single-family home, a duplex, or an apartment building.

Property condition – You’ll want to make sure the property you buy is in good condition. If repairs need to be made, make sure to factor that into the price you pay for the property.

Real Estate Investing Tips for Finding a Property to Buy that Will Earn You Rent

Start looking for properties that earn you rent sooner rather than later – The earlier you start looking, the more time you’ll have to find the right deal, which will make your investing process easier.

Be open to different neighborhoods – Be sure to look in all different kinds of neighborhoods because you might find a great deal in a neighborhood that isn’t super desirable right now. Be flexible with your budget – You might find a great deal on a property that’s outside your budget. It’s important to be flexible with your budget because you don’t want to pass up a great deal just because it’s out of your price range.

Find a great realtor – A great realtor can help you find properties that earn you rent, walk you through the process of buying a property, and help you get a good price for the property you’re selling. A realtor can be an invaluable resource for any real estate investor.

3 Types of Properties that Will Earn You Cash Flow

When you buy a property that will earn you rent, you want to make sure it’ll give you a steady stream of income over time. If you buy a property that only brings in a few thousand dollars in rent, you may not have enough income to make the investment worth it.

To make sure you buy a property that will earn you cash flow over time, you’ll want to choose a rental property that has a high rental yield, below-average vacancy rates, and low maintenance costs.

These three factors help ensure that your rental property will continue to be a reliable source of income for years to come.

Apartment building – An apartment building is a great property to buy if you want to earn cash flow from the get-go. It’s one of the most expensive properties to buy, but it’s also one of the most reliable sources of income since you’ll have a long-term tenant at one location.

Single-family home – A single-family home is a great property to buy if you want a blend of both long-term and short-term tenants. It generally takes longer to find tenants for a single-family home than for an apartment building, but once you do, the tenants tend to stay for a long time.

Duplex – A duplex is a good choice if you’re looking for a lower-maintenance property and you don’t mind doing some work to keep both halves of the building in good condition. The lower maintenance costs are one of the biggest advantages of buying a duplex, but they also come with the disadvantage of a smaller profit margin compared to a single-family home or apartment building.

Wrapping up

Buying a property that will earn you rent is a great way to start your real estate investing journey. When you buy a property that will earn you rent, you’re buying an asset that will continue to bring in steady income for years to come.

When you’re picking a property to buy, be sure to find one that is in good condition, in a desirable neighborhood, costs less than $350,000, and has a high rental yield. Once you’ve found the right property, make sure to put in the work to make sure it stays in good condition, and you’ll have a reliable source of income for years to come.

Contact Us

At Rent Portland Homes – Professionals, we specialize in local property management for Beaverton and surrounding areas.

Our team has decades of combined property management experience and looks forward to the opportunity of earning your business.

Contact us today for a quote at (503) 447-7735 or click here to connect with us online.

As the United States enters a recession, the U.S. housing market is officially in a downturn that could potentially last for 12 months or longer.

The big question that most investors want to know is if a housing market downturn will help the rental market, or hurt it.

Thankfully, whenever the housing market faces a downturn, real estate investors can look for opportunities where economists expect defeat because real estate investors typically benefit the most when home prices fall.

Fewer People Buying, More People Selling

The housing market has been a nonstop boom for the last five to 10 years, especially in Portland Oregon, where home prices have gone through the roof, and in many cases, it’s made it next to impossible for people who earn under $100,000 a year to buy homes.

When it comes to investors, with fewer people buying, and more people selling, this means more properties are available than ever on the market for them to choose from.

Opportunities like this don’t come around very often, the last time that we saw market conditions like this was after the 2008 “Great Recession” when home prices tanked and stayed at record lows for several years.

The current recession is only just beginning, and even though some economists are saying that it’s not going to last very long, it’s likely that we could see this recession last for 12 months or longer.

Is A Housing Crash Coming?

Housing recession usually stems from “speculations.” What does speculation entail? This activity occurs when investors buy houses to make huge profits from them when they make a sale in the future. Speculation creates high demand, invariably skyrocketing the prices of homes. 

With more speculators joining in on the party, an ultimate crash is imminent. When there’s a downturn in the economy, those who took mortgages and loans will find it difficult to clear their debts as interest rates increase. Most investors will seek to sell their properties for lower rates to stay afloat, giving room for lower prices.  

Although a housing recession can negatively impact a country regardless of its economic prowess, it’s vital to understand that these events are usually short-term, meaning that economic recovery is achievable within a short period. Nonetheless, select occurrences can make this recession form last for long periods.

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Ultimately, many economists have said that the state of the 2022 housing market is a lot different than what we saw in 2008 because the lending fundamentals are different than back then.

With the market built on stronger fundamentals, it’s likely that the current housing market downturn may not last for as long, or have as great an impact on the economy as some have predicted.

While investors wait for the housing market downturn to end, there’s still going to be a fair number of deals out there including multifamily and single-family homes for sale in Portland, and the greater PDX area.

Also, A Great Opportunity for First Time Investors

Besides being a great opportunity for longtime real estate investors, the current real estate market is also presenting ample opportunities for new real estate investors who are moving from stocks to real estate

Rental real estate presents a “steady Oasis” in any recession because of the simple fact that rental properties continue to earn passive monthly cash flow while most other well-known investments are tanking.

Once they add rental properties to their investment portfolios, some new real estate investors may choose to manage their rental properties themselves, getting first-hand experience in working with tenants, plus overall property management.

Yes, rental properties can be managed by any DIY investor, but the reality is that for passive income, it’s always a better decision for an investor to choose an experienced property manager like rent Portland Homes – Professionals.

When investors choose property managers to manage their rental they could have peace of mind in knowing that all aspects of property management will be handled from start to finish including property marketing, tenant selection, rent collection, maintenance, customer service and so much more.

Besides the ease and convenience of working with a property management company, another benefit is that owners can live anywhere in the United States while having confidence that their rental property is effectively being cared for and maintained by a company property manager.

New investors can take heart that rental real estate will continue to be a steady source of cash flow for them for years to come including good real estate markets, and bad.

What’s also most important to know about the state of the rental market is that with homes still out of reach for many buyers nationwide, rental real estate will continue to be in high demand in the years to come.

Why? People will always need a place to live and search for rental properties in Portland or surrounding areas nationwide.

Contact Rent Portland Homes – Professionals

At Rent Portland Homes – Professionals/4RentLocal.com, we specialize in property management for Beaverton, Portland, and surrounding areas.

Founded by Fred Marlow, our company has decades of combined property management experience in the PDX area. This means that regardless of if you are a new or inexperienced investor, you can have Peace of Mind in knowing that the best property management team in Portland is managing your rental property.

For a property management quote, or to learn more about the services that we can offer you, contact us today by calling or clicking here to connect with us online.

Vacancy is something that every landlord must be ready for sooner rather than later because is comes with owning rental properties in Beaverton Oregon, and elsewhere in the United States.

Thankfully, landlords can lower vacancy rates while increasing renewals by following these tips.

Tips For Lowering Vacancy Rates

One of the best things that every landlord can do to reduce vacancies at their rental properties while increasing renewals is to build a relationship with their tenant.

The relationship starts from day one; they should let that tenant know they’re welcome to live in their rental property by providing them with a gift basket containing the essentials that a tenant might need to get started in a new home.

Some of the most common essentials that every tenant is going to need when moving into a new home include:

• Cleaning supplies
• Toilet caddy
• Broom with dustpan
• Vacuum cleaner
• Trash bags

Once the gift basket is given, the landlord should next show the tenant that there are multiple ways for them to connect with the landlord including calls, texts, or emails.

The tenant must know that anytime they need to reach out to the landlord, the landlord is going to be accessible to assist them with any problems that they may be experiencing at their rental property instead of having their issues left unanswered.

As a landlord invests in more rental properties in Beaverton Oregon, the calls that they receive from their tenants are only going to increase. Therefore, every landlord should consider outsourcing those calls to a live answering service so that they could keep their cell phone out of the contact loop and avoid after-hours calls.

What’s even more ideal is for a landlord to outsource the management of their rental properties to a qualified property manager like Rent Portland Homes – Professionals. Our team offers live customer service that’s available to assist tenants with all their questions, problems, or concerns that they might have.

Tip #2 – Be willing To Accept Feedback

Another simple thing that landlords can do to lower vacancies at their rental properties is to be willing to listen to feedback from their tenants.

Even though not every recommendation is going to be a good idea, if the tenant’s feedback is simple, cost-effective, and easy to implement, the landlord should be willing to act upon that feedback because this will show the tenant that the landlord is taking their feedback into consideration and values their input.

Landlords should provide their tenants with a simple method for submitting feedback either via text message, contact form on their website or by submitting written feedback to the landlord at their office.

Tip #3 – Approach Tenants Early About Lease Renewals

Another effective thing that landlords can do to reduce vacancy rates while increasing renewals is to approach their tenants early about lease renewals.

This means that instead of waiting until 30 days before their tenants are due to renew their leases, landlords should approach their tenants at least 90 days in advance to get their feedback on renewing for another 12 months.

This is a smart thing to do because a tenant may be hesitant to renew their lease because they feel that their feedback or maintenance requests have gone unanswered by the landlord.

Approaching the tenant early about lease renewals gives the landlord time to address the tenant’s concerns, resolve issues, and show that them they’re willing to go the extra mile to continue earning that business for another year.

Tip #4 – Offer Incentives for Lease Renewals

In cases where the landlord can still not get the tenant to renew their lease for another year, the landlord should consider offering them incentives or perks for renewing.

Depending upon if it’s a single-family or multifamily unit in a rental property, landlords should consider offering their tenants incentives like:

• Cash incentives
• Gift cards
• Unit upgrades or enhancements
• Free wi-fi
• Free gym membership
• Amazon Prime subscription

Incentives are always something that every landlord should use to increase lease renewals while lowering vacancy rates at their rental properties.

Besides offering incentives, landlords should also consider allowing their tenants in their rental properties as well.

Even though a tenant may not currently have a pet right now, it’s possible that they could be thinking about buying one soon and are in the process of looking for a pet-friendly rental property.

Seventy percent of U.S. households, or about 90.5 million families, own a pet, according to the 2021-2022 National Pet Owners Survey conducted by the American Pet Products Association (APPA). This is up from 56 percent of U.S. households in 1988, the first year the survey was conducted, and 67 percent in 2019.

Source – https://www.iii.org/

Allowing pets will keep good tenants living in the rental property while also providing them with the convenience of being able to have a pet versus them moving out of a property that they might enjoy, in favor of searching for a pet-friendly rental in the area.

Remember, incentives that may work for tenants in other cities or states may not work for tenants in the Beaverton area so owners should also take the time to research incentives/concessions that other local landlords are offering their vacancy tenants before they decide on what they should offer.

Contact Us

At Rent Portland Homes – Professionals, our team specializes in local property management for Beaverton, Portland, and the surrounding area.

We save owners the time, money, and hassle of managing rental properties so they can continue enjoying passive income from their properties without having to get bogged down with day-to-day property management.

Besides helping owners’ lower vacancies while increasing their renewals, some of our other services include rental property marketing, evictions, customer service, maintenance, accounting, and more.

To learn more about the property management services that we can offer you, contact us today by calling (503) 646-9664 or by clicking here to connect with us online.

Since the end of the pandemic, evictions have been on the rise in Portland, and across the entire state of Oregon.

Even though eviction is something that every landlord must deal with at some point, the reality is that it’s entirely possible for landlords to avoid evicting tenants if they use the right strategies to help avoid eviction.

In this article, we will share with you several strategies that landlords can use to help the costly eviction process.

Steps For Avoiding Eviction

One of the best ways you can avoid the eviction process with a tenant is to make sure that your lease is very clear about rent, and the consequences for paying rent late.

Some key points that your lease should include area:

• When rent is due
• What your grace period is
• When rent is considered late
• Late fees
• When the eviction process starts

Having clear language in the lease regarding rent is not enough, you must also be willing to enforce the rules because, if you let your tenant get by with paying the rent late, that tenant will take advantage of your generosity and be willing to do that again anytime in the future.

Worse yet, tenants who pay their rent late won’t hesitate to tell their friends, family members, or other renters that they’ve paid rent late and that those tenants can do the same should they encounter similar circumstances where they must pay late in the future if they are renting from you.

Encourage Communication When If Your Tenant Has Financial Problems

Another important thing that you can do to help avoid the eviction process with your tenant is to be willing to communicate with them when they experience financial problems.

Since the start of the pandemic, it’s not uncommon for many tenants to have lost jobs, changed jobs, or industries, so it’s best to encourage your tenants to be very upfront and communicate with you if they are experiencing financial problems.

It’s always best to be willing to work out payment arrangements with tenants, especially if you know the money is coming because good tenants are worth their weight in gold.

It’s better to work with them rather than just take that tenant through the eviction process and start all over again with finding a new tenant for your property.

Connect Tenants with Local Social Support Services

Another important thing to do once your tenant reaches out to you regarding a job loss that will cause them to be late paying their rent is for you to connect them with local social support services.

Tenants must be made aware that help is available to them if they’re unable to pay their rent on time or if there’s faced with not being able to buy food for the month, they should know that support programs are out there that they can tap into to help cover the gaps until they get back on track financially.

Offer Them Cash for Keys

Let’s be clear, the absolute last thing that a tenant wants is to have been an eviction on their rental record, the same is true for the landlord, every landlord wants to avoid eviction with their tenant, therefore offering them an arrangement like cash for keys is ideal.

Cash for keys is one of the most time-tested ways to avoid eviction because, instead of taking the delinquent tenant through the eviction process, the landlord offers them a viable cash payment for them to move out within a set period.

Even though cash for keys is an ideal way to avoid eviction, this agreement must also be in writing and the tenant must be made aware that if they violate the agreement, they will immediately face eviction.

Inform Your Tenants That You Will Report the Eviction to The Credit Bureaus

Last of all, but most important, if an eviction with a tenant is moving forward, you should also inform the tenant that you will be reporting the eviction to the credit bureaus.

This is important to mention because, in today’s world a credit score is priceless, and nobody wants to have an eviction on their Portland credit report which could hinder their ability to successfully apply for a mortgage loan.

It’s best to lay out all the consequences of the eviction to the tenant right from the very beginning so that they’re aware that there’s more than one consequence that could affect them financially in the years to come.

Contact Rent Portland Homes – Professionals

At 4RentLocal.com/Rent Portland Homes – Professionals, we specialize in local property management services for the Portland Oregon area.

Our property management team saves owners the time, money, and hassle of managing their rental properties themselves so that they could focus on earning passive income and passive cash flow from those rental properties.

If you need help with property management services, including evictions, contact us today by calling (503) 447-7735 or clicking here to connect with us online.

Are you searching for the latest Oregon landlord-tenant information for 2022-2023? If so, you’ve come to the right place!

In this article, we will share with you the most up-to-date landlord-tenant information that you can use for growing your rental property business in all the local cities and neighborhoods in the Portland Metro area.

Oregon Landlord Tenant  – Rights and Duties of Landlords

From the moment that you rent your property to a tenant; you enter a landlord-tenant relationship with them. This means that the tenant has a variety of rights that are recognized under the law, and they must be respected.

One of the most common rights that every tenant in Oregon landlord-tenant has is the right to be notified at least 24 hours in advance that the landlord is going to enter their rental property.

This notice should be placed on the door of the rental property so that the tenant knows that they have ample time to prepare for the landlord’s arrival. If the tenant is not notified, failure to comply with this rule is one of the most common reasons why landlords and tenants end up in court.

Habitability:

It is your responsibility to provide a home that is habitable and to make repairs when needed.

You must equip the residence with a properly working smoke and carbon monoxide detector and provide the initial set of batteries if it is battery operated.

By renting your property to the tenant, you give that tenant the right to possess and use your property, free from interference.

You may not enter frequently, at odd hours or without a legitimate reason or without notice

You cannot lock a tenant out:

The only exception to the no lockout rule is when a tenant who can demonstrate they have been the victim of domestic violence, stalking, or sexual assault asks to have the perpetrator tenant locked out of the unit where the victim of the crime continues to live.

As a Oregon landlord tenant, you are also responsible for observing federal, state, and local fair housing laws.

Discrimination:

You cannot discriminate against a tenant for having children, because of their disability, or because of their religion, race, sex, ethnic background, sexual orientation, or gender identity.

When a tenant is applying to rent, you also cannot consider a tenant’s past eviction case that they successfully defended.

You cannot discriminate against a tenant because they were a victim of a domestic violence, sexual assault, or stalking crime.

For more information about your fair housing duties, visit the Fair Housing Council of Oregon.

It is also illegal to retaliate against a tenant by raising the rent, shutting off utilities, or trying to evict the tenant because they complained to you or a public agency about habitability conditions, discrimination, or other violations of the law, or because the tenant joined or formed a tenant’s organization.

Security Deposit Return:

You must account for or refund to the tenant any security deposits after the tenant moves out. You must give the tenant a written accounting that states specifically why you kept a portion or all the deposit within 31 days of the rental agreement. If you do not comply with this requirement, the tenant can sue you for twice the amount of the deposit.

Notices to Terminate the Tenancy

To end a month-to-month tenancy during the first year of the tenancy, you must give your tenant a 30-day written notice, unless the rental unit is in the city of Portland, where 90 days’ notice and payment of relocation costs is required for no-cause terminations. The tenant may also terminate the tenancy with a 30-day written notice. A week-to-week rental period requires a 10-day notice.

If your tenant has lived in the dwelling for more than a year, you cannot terminate the tenancy for no cause unless you have a “qualifying landlord reason.” Qualifying landlord reasons are:

• You intend to demolish the dwelling unit or convert it to non-residential use, or
• You intend to do repairs or renovations which would render the unit unsafe, or
• You intend to move yourself or a close family member into the unit, or
• You have accepted an offer to purchase the dwelling unit from a person who intends to occupy it.

A fixed-term tenancy of less than one year will automatically convert to a month-to-month tenancy after the expiration of the fixed term unless the landlord has given a notice of termination at least 30 days prior to the end date stated in the rental agreement.

In Portland, Oregon landlord tenant must still give at least 90 days’ notice of intent not to renew a fixed-term tenancy. You cannot end a fixed-term tenancy early unless you have cause to end it, such as a violation of the lease by the tenant.

If a tenant (or someone in the tenant’s control) threatens to or inflicts substantial personal injury to a person on the property or neighbor, intentionally inflicts substantial damage to the property, or commits an act that is outrageous in the extreme, you may give the tenant a 24-hour notice to leave

The notice must be in writing in a special legal form.

The notice must explain the reason for termination, and it must be delivered personally to the tenant or mailed to the tenant by first class mail only. If a notice is mailed, you must add three days to the notice time. (The additional three days does not include the date of mailing.)

The legal form of the notice must be correct in all details to be enforced in court.

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Oregon Landlord Tenant – Rights And Duties of Tenants

When you rent a house or an apartment, you enter a legal contract with someone. With this contract begins what is known as a landlord-tenant relationship. As a tenant, you have certain rights and responsibilities. First, you have the right of exclusive possession, which means that even though the landlord owns the property, you generally have the right to your privacy. No one may invade your “home” without legal authority. As such, your landlord must give you at least 24 hours notice before entering the property unless there is an emergency, unless you have requested repairs or maintenance (without designating certain dates and times), or unless the contract permits the landlord to enter the grounds (but not the dwelling unit) for yard maintenance.

Your landlord may enter the property after advance notice to make inspections, make necessary repairs, supply necessary services, or to show the property to prospective buyers or work people. If reasonable, you may deny your oregon landlord tenant permission to enter; however, you must act reasonably. Just as the landlord cannot abuse the right of access to harass you or enter at unreasonable times, you cannot withhold your permission to enter to hinder or interfere with the landlord’s exercise of his or her rights and responsibilities.’

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Contact Rent Portland Homes – Professionals

At 4RentLocal.com/Rent Portland Homes – Professionals, we specialize in managing single-family and multifamily properties across the entire Portland Metro Area.

Owning local rental properties has only gotten more complicated since COVID-19. Thankfully, having an experienced property manager managing your investment property will save you the time and hassle of DIY management while ensuring that your property is rented for top dollar.

To learn more about the property management services we can offer you, or for a property management quote, contact us today by clicking here or calling (503) 447-7735.

Is it true or not that you are anticipating putting resources into your most memorable Portland Oregon investment property? Assuming this is the case, despite the fact that you might be anxious to lease that property out ASAP, actually you can’t rush the screening system, particularly with regards to historical verifications in Portland Oregon.

Personal investigations are significant in light of the fact that they guarantee that you will screen the top occupants and try not to lease to people who are not qualified.

Tragically, notwithstanding the wide assortment of assets that proprietors can use for record verifications, numerous proprietors actually are ‘wavering’ about personal investigations and they skirt this significant piece of the inhabitant choice cycle.

In this article, we will offer you a few motivations behind why record verifications are significant, and we will likewise offer you tips that you can use for effectively looking at the foundation of occupants for your investment property.

Background Checks Bring Long Term Tenants

Perhaps of the main thing that you need as a proprietor is long term inhabitants since this guarantees that you will not need to go through the tedious course of screening and putting new occupants each two or three years.

Shields Your Best Interests from Liabilities

One more significant part of leading inhabitant individual verifications is that they safeguard your wellbeing and assist you with keeping away from the problem of leasing to somebody who might actually be a miscreant or obligation at your investment property.

Wipes out The Chance of Renting to Evasive People

Inhabitant historical verifications are additionally successful at possibly preventing sly people from leasing from you also in light of the fact that they realize that the historical verification might actually uncover something that they are stowing away once you survey their set of experiences.

Keep in mind, for your wellbeing, and the security of your occupants, it’s dependably fitting to really look at the foundation of each occupant regardless of whether they encourage you to do in any case since you would rather not disregard Fair Housing Laws.

Gives Insight into A Tenants History

Can we just be look at things objectively for a minute, we as a whole have a past, and the individual verification will uncover an inhabitants complete past including in the event that they’ve moved each several years, changed positions oftentimes or on the other hand assuming that they have a high outstanding debt compared to revenue and will most likely be unable to pay their lease on time every month.

Bringing that profound plunge into the inhabitant’s set of experiences will likewise assist you with knowing whether the occupant needed to move because of their work and you will actually want to investigate their total history, instead of just pursuing a choice on their application in view of what they recorded on their rental application.

Tenant Background Check Tips

#1: DEVELOP WRITTEN QUALIFICATION CRITERIA and DOCUMENT THEM

As a landlord, you have to decline an applicant from time to time. Sometimes, that applicant may be a member of a protected class under federal or state housing regulations. If an applicant accuses you of housing discrimination, you’re going to want to be able to show them a race-neutral, gender-neutral, disability-neutral, familial-status-neutral criteria written in advance. And of course, you’ll want to be able to show how the plaintiff didn’t meet these perfectly legal tenant screening criteria.

#2: Verify Income Sources

A generation ago, it was very difficult to create a fake pay stub. However, now that everyone has a computer, a scanner, and photo editing software, it’s a snap to forge or alter a pay stub. Sites like www.stubsamples.com and www.speedystub.com allow small business owners, contractors, and others who are frequently paid in cash—many of whom are legitimate applicants—to create their own pay stubs. However, it’s a simple matter for anyone to generate entirely fraudulent pay stubs for the purpose of deceit.

To reduce the risk of being conned by a fraudulent pay stub, consider asking for three months of bank statements as well.

#3: Check Out Social Media Profiles

If you can find the applicant on Facebook, Instagram, or LinkedIn, take some time to scroll through their account. Does their information match their employment and residence history? Are there references to committing a crime or being incarcerated? Do they affiliate with any hate groups or gangs? Know the warning signs.

#4: Contact Two Previous Landlords

Remember, their current landlord may speak of them in glowing terms just to get rid of their worst tenant. If the tenant is trashing the place, is a chronic late payer, or is generating complaints, the current landlord has every incentive to give a superlative reference just to get them to pack up and leave. Call their previous landlord, if possible, to get a less biased reference.

#5: Run a Background Check on Each Adult Applicant

Both spouses and roommates should get their own background check. Stay alert to attempts to substitute a relative’s background check information in place of the actual applicant.

#6: Don’t Offer Leases Without a Completed & Signed Rental Application

Often, someone who fails to complete an application in full is hiding something. If you need to conduct an eviction down the road, you may need that application in order to show that the tenant lied. If you allow them to turn in an incomplete application, you open yourself and your other tenants up to risk, and you lose important documentation if it comes to an eviction.

#7: Don’t Make Written Comments on the Application Other Than Those Pertaining to Your Rental Criteria

A comment like “Credit score of 560 is less than the 620 required” or “Income is less than the $4,000 per month required to rent” is fine. However, if a plaintiff’s attorney gets ahold of the tenant’s application and finds that you’ve written “Two small children” on the application, that’s probably enough for them to go after you on a housing discrimination claim.

#8: Hold on to Applications for Several Years

The specific time frame depends on the statute of limitations in your state. However, be sure to keep them under lock and key. These records contain sensitive, personal information on each applicant that they’re depending on you to secure. Access to these records should be on a strict need-to-know basis.

#9: Beware of False Positives

If a tenant has a common name, it’s relatively easy for an innocent person to get flagged. If an otherwise good tenant is coming up hot on a criminal background check, look at the mugshot and basic biographical info to be sure that it’s the same person.

#10: Use a Property Manager

A professional, experienced property manager offers important benefits for the landlord. First, you don’t have to spend time dealing with unserious or unqualified applicants. Second, a qualified and experienced property manager is likely to stay up to date on the evolving laws and regulations that govern housing discrimination. They can prevent landlords from making common mistakes, like posting discriminatory language on housing ads that can cost careless landlords tens of thousands of dollars in fines and court costs. Third, if the property manager makes a mistake, they generally carry substantial errors & omissions insurance that can protect you if their error results in liability to you as the landlord. This is a vital consideration. You can ask for proof of E&O insurance when you interview and contract with a property manager.

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Contact 4RentLocal.com/Rent Portland Homes – Professionals

At Rent Portland Homes – Professionals, our team will save you the time, money and hassle of conducting background checks yourself.

You can count on us to screen and place the most qualified tenants in your rental property.

Besides background checks, we also offer full-service property management including dispossessory eviction, rent collection, maintenance, customer service and more!

Learn more about the services we can offer you by contacting us at (503) 447-7735 or click here to connect with us online.

Welcome to 4RentLocal.com, your source for rental market news and information for Portland Oregon landlords, and tenants in the Portland metro area.

Our team has over 10 years of local property management experience and we will provide you with the best news information regardless of if you’re a local landlord who is looking for tips on how to get the best return on investment from their rental property or a tenant who is looking for their next rental property in the Portland area.

The rental market has changed over the last two years and more renters are moving out of Portland to surrounding communities like Beaverton, Hillsboro, and other local areas so that they could still be close to Portland, but not live in the big city.

Investors know this, and along with out-of-state investors, they are now searching for investment properties in the greater Portland metro area because they know that tenants want more flexibility regarding where they live, and they want to have a lifestyle instead of just having a life.

As the rental market has changed in Portland, you can count on our property management team to provide you with the most useful news information that you can use to get the best return on investment from your local rental property.

4rentlocal Helps You Stay Up To Date With Local Rental Market News And Information 

In the 2020s, it’s more critical than ever before for investors, and landlords, to be up to date with what’s happening in the local rental market because, not being up to speed with the latest laws, rules, and regulations affecting Portland landlords can cost the landlord thousands of dollars.

The same is true for tenants, tenants now have more rights in the state of Oregon than ever but, they must be aware of those rights to have stability and Peace of Mind at their rental properties.

This blog will share with you the most useful information that you can use as a tenant which will help you to find the right rental property and start a great relationship with a landlord that will last for 12 months or longer.

Regardless of if you rent or own a rental property in Portland, you need an excellent resource of local knowledge, fed by property managers who understand the market including the latest trends, changes, and news that affects the Portland rental market on a day-to-day basis.

We Know The Portland Oregon Rental Market 

Our team is based in Beaverton OR, and for more than 10 years, we’ve provided excellent property management service to local landlords regardless of if they own single-family or multifamily properties in Portland, or surrounding areas. 

As the rental market has changed, our property management company has only continued to grow because more landlords are choosing our services than ever before instead of continuing to manage the rental properties themselves.

If you like the articles that you find on this blog, we invite you to comment and share them with your social media networks, friends, and followers.

We invite you to explore our site, connect with us on Facebook by clicking here or call us at (503) 447-7735 to learn more about the services and solutions that we can offer you.