Hi Good Day mates, recently i took up a new job as a landlord (Which is a first for me) for my brother's studio apartment for rent. The said job's responsibility involves looking for tenants to occupy the place. Now, i'm at this stage wherein i have some shortlisted qualified applicants (3 of them) already and all of them cleared the background checks that i did plus they all are very capable to pay for the rent. But Im confused as who to choose because they all pretty much offer the same commitment (willing to stay at least 6 months, willing to pay for security deposit. etc) and plus they all expressed their interest pretty much the same time. I mean these 3 shortlisted applicants were all part of the group studio apartment inspection session that i conducted and they all said they're interested after the session. Also, I'm not comfortable basing my selection on the person itself (e.g i like this applicant because he/she's an oz an this one is an asian, or i prefer the women over a men applicant, etc.) because it will look like im discriminating them. I've also hate to consider the idea of negotiating with the 3 of them in terms of who can come up with a better offer because that will be unethical and against the law (i think). any advise you can share to me will be much appreciated. Cheers!
Need advice on my job as a Newbie Landlord
Comments
Thanks. for the suggestion. I forgot to mention that all of the applicants are students as the apartment is only for student accommodation only.
Now, to answer your question:
Who looked more presentable?
As what i can recall they are all presentable to me. all of them are neatly dressed.
Who was more professional, friendly yet courteous when communicating?
As far as i can remember they are all friendly,courteous and can communicate well.
Who looked more genuine and trustworthy?
They all trustworthy and genuine to me i think. based on the background check that i did i spoke to their current landlord they are all trustworthy in terms of paying the rent on time and fulfilling and obeying all the terms and conditions.
Who do you think would maintain your property and not damage it?
Their current landlord told me that they maintained to property well (so far).
Who rather looked more reckless, fill to the brim of adventure, trouble and complaints from neighbours.
Their current landlord did not mention any recklessness or complaints (so far).
Who has a more stable job with longer employed period, aka, will be able to continue to pay rent minus unforeseen circumstances?
They all pretty much started with their job less than a year ago.
what about who didn't look like they would set up a meth lab?
well maybe pick whoever has biggest salary normally they are more educated. full time workers better than students as they will less staying in the house. no kids better than kids. less people is better. make sure put condition on contract only xxx people can stay there. do regular inspection, and look for signs more than xxx people live! (glasses, mattresses, shoes, etc). no pet, no smoking.
nothing wrong basing selection on the person itself, every landlords doing this but no one speak this loudly of course.
some people from some background will cook a lot at home and one of my landlord friend need to paint the whole house because apparently the smell goes deep into the wall! (not literally but you get what i mean, right?).like the above poster, just follow your instinct and logic.
If they're all equal, go with the first person.
Yeah I'm sure all 3 can't have possibly registered their interest at the exact same time.
Give each applicant 2 numbers on a die and roll it, let fate decide. Head here if you don't have a die around: https://www.random.org/dice/
Also, if you roll and you don't like the result, well you also have your answer there too. Easy as.
Have them each answer 10 of those weird job interview questions, one that comes to mind is, How many golf balls in the world are in the air right now?
rent auction?
You could call each of them up and ask if any are willing to go for 12month contract instead of 6 months, as that is your preference. Also, let them know that 2 other people applied and you need a differentiating factor.
Grow a long crooked nose and beady eyes
Pick whoever had the cleanest or most well-kept car.
Who looked more presentable?
Who was more professional, friendly yet courteous when communicating?
Who looked more genuine and trustworthy?
Who do you think would maintain your property and not damage it?
Who rather looked more reckless, fill to the brim of adventure, trouble and complaints from neighbours.
Who has a more stable job with longer employed period, aka, will be able to continue to pay rent minus unforeseen circumstances?
I'd judge my applicants based on these criteria to start with.