Mina V Garrey - Commercial Capital Properties, Los Angeles, CA

As you probably know, when a prospective tenant is interested in renting one of our units, we should always be looking at the prospect's ability to pay the rent on time. That's what we refer to as tenant screening. So, I certainly hope that all of you out there do your due diligence when it comes to renting your units.

Well, these days you may come across a few prospects who may have a foreclosure on their credit report. What do you do with that? Do you ignore it? Do you decline to rent to them? Well, it depends! Here are a few things we should be carefully looking at to determine if a candidate is right for our unit.

- See if there are any other delinquencies on their credit report. This will determine if a person habitually pays late or if it was just the bad loan that got the best of them.

- Check how long ago the delinquencies started. I've see credit reports where you can clearly see that an extraordinary circumstance must have occurred for a few months, because the credit is clean before and after that.

- Talk to your tenant, ask questions. Don't just decline the application, because of the foreclosure. There may be a very good reason as to why that happened. This is the time to talk to your tenant, not when you are taking them to court for an Unlawful Detainer Action lawsuit.

So, a foreclosure should not automatically disqualify someone from being a renter. Read between the lines of the credit report, ask questions, analyze both what they are saying and what you see on paper. Cross examine and match pieces of information as you can find those on the application. You can ask for as much supporting evidence as needed for you to make an educated decision. Don't feel like you are offending the person for asking for the documentation. They are aware of their situation and they also need a place to live.

And trust me, it pays to be thorough!

If you are currently or have ever been involved in Leasing, you know that at times it is a very time-consuming activity. Preparing the place for lease, listing it online, in the newspaper, with a rental service etc, talking to people on the phone, meeting with prospective tenants ... and the list goes on.

Many people dread a vacancy! Common sense tells us that each month a vacant unit goes unrented, we are loosing money that we can never recover. It is gone forever! There are certain things that we cannot control when it comes to vacancy rates, for example the rental market itself. There is not much we as individuals can do about the local economy, the unemployment rates etc. We can however control a lot of other factors. We can control our presentation to a prospective tenant. We can control our follow up skills. We can control what a unit looks like when we show it to a prospective tenant. And that's why it becomes extremely important that we master the art of Leasing.

First and foremost when it comes to leasing, the most important thing we have to do is remember that people buy YOU. Remember that many other buildings in your community have the same exact amenities that you are offering, maybe even a lower price, but what makes one person lease from you vs the competition is again, YOU!

Here is a list of a few things I try to pay close attention to when I have a vacancy:

1. Know your community better than the competition

2. Don't focus on the price

3. Practice an interesting pitch that engages the prospect in a conversation and doesn't just give them a lecture

4. Get prospects to be honest with you

5. Ask people to come by right away or soon as possible to view the unit

6. Don't be afraid to ask a prospect to fill out an application right away

7. Make sure the unit is clean when you show it

8. Get contact information from your prospects and follow up with them

9. Get feedback from your prospects, have them fill out a short questionnaire. This way you can track your presentation and make small changes as you go.

10. Look professional

YOU are the image a tenant will remember when they leave the property. If you made a bad impression, they will not rent from you. We have to fine-tune our people skills especially in a time when unemployment is rising, the economy is slowing down, people's futures are uncertain. There are plenty of excellent, qualified tenants out there, it's just a matter of finding them and giving them the confidence that you are the one they want to be renting from.

And remember, even if you are doing all of the above and more, not every person who walks through your door will be the perfect match for your unit. This is where your due diligence comes in and you separate the qualified prospective tenants from the rest of the pack.

Not too long ago I had a tenant call me and tell me that the apartment they were living in was "waaaay" overpriced and they would either like to have the rent reduced or they will move out. So, I sat there for a moment wondering if I had made a mistake in my research on pricing vacant units. So, I decided to look into it again to triple-check my work.

After a couple of hours online, making some phone calls, analyzing data etc I came to the conclusion that the tenant was in fact incorrect. I don't know about your particular area, but in Los Angeles prices on apartments vary widely from one block to the next. With all my research organized in charts, I finally called the tenant back to explain to them that the apartment was in fact priced correctly.

Too many times, people just look at the title of an advertisement for an apartment, for example "Beautiful 2+2 upper unit apartment in Los Angeles, available immediately! - $1100.00/mo". They forget the importance of size of the unit, amenities etc. I was researching the market rent for a 3-bedroom unit once and I came across units varying from 1000 square feet (!) to 2200 square feet. Needless to say one will cost more than the other.

I also found that a lot of times in advertisements people tend to use the name of a neighboring area that may be a "better" neighborhood to attract people to their listings. I actually went ahead and got a map of Los Angeles and placed pins for the location of each property that used as a comparable. I was astonished to find out that some of the units advertised as being in a certain area, were in fact about 6-7 miles (!) away from my apartment building. I don't know about you, but that irritates me. The apartments I used as comps, were all within a 1.5 mile radius.

As an additional precaution, I also called a local rental agency to get their take on the pricing in the area and the number they gave me also waaay off. I asked them to send me the comps they used and when I reviewed those, I found out that all properties used, where nowhere near my building. And I remember specifically being asked the city and zip-code of the subject property.

So, all I am trying to say is that not everyone out there is doing their detailed analysis of the area they are in and that may cause confusion. You may be loosing out on good prospective and current tenants that believe your price is too high. That's why I made my research charts, notes, maps etc a part of my Leasing materials. I make a point of showing current and future tenants. what they are looking at out there. I want to make sure they are comparing apples to apples.

I hope you are doing your homework, before going out there and trying to lease an apartment.