The housing and rental markets have taken some hits in the last few years but one area of property management that is holding its own and even improving is student housing. Every year there will be that influx of students looking for off campus housing and the newest crop of students expects more from their housing and they’re willing to pay for it.

Obviously renting to students isn’t all peaches and cream as there are some downsides. One of them is that most of them don?t want to live there the entire year so you have to figure out a way to deal with rent during summer months or possible subleasers. Another problem is students have a well earned reputation of being irresponsible and hosting parties. This is where screening and hefty security deposits can be useful.

The upsides of renting to students is they are often willing to share which can actually prove to be a windfall financially for you. They also have parents which you can typically require to cosign on their lease agreement, which gives you a backdoor if there is a problem with rent that you typically wouldn’t have.

So if you’re looking to infuse your property management business with some new energy and income, try renting to students.

photo credit:?dcJohn

Before you rent any property you own you need to do a background check on all potential tenants. That should go without saying but in too many situations it just doesn?t. Let me make this clear, you MUST do a background check on EVERYONE. Even if you?re going to rent a unit to a very dear friend or a family member, it is in your best interest to do a background check because other tenants or even people that apply to rent the property can hold that against you in the future.

Make sure you do a thorough background check and don?t skip any portion of it.

Credit Check

Getting a credit report on prospective tenants is actually very easy and ridiculously packed with useful information. You?ll learn about their payment history, their financial responsibility, their loans, their credit rating and many more important pieces of their financial background.

Criminal History

Most states have online criminal background histories and searching for the background on your prospective tenant is just as easy as plugging their name into the query page. There is no rule that says you can?t rent to someone with a criminal background BUT you could have serious problems if your prospective tenant is a registered sex offender and you have children living on your property. There are no national criminal registries so try to get information on where the applicant lived in the past.

Rental Past

The Credit Check and Criminal History will actually give you information on the prospective tenants rental past if there was a problem as legal actions against them by tenants will be in the criminal check and any collection issues will be on the credit report. But it?s not always this easy, call their past landlords to get a reference and a better feel for their rental past.

Remember to get the prospective tenant?s permission, in writing, before performing any sort of background check.

Before you hire someone or rent property to someone you should always perform a background check. This should go without saying, but many people have never thought of doing a property background check, in fact they?ve never heard of them.

A property background check gives you the background on the property you are considering purchasing, letting you know who owned the property, rented it, any accidents that occurred there which created insurance claims, and any deaths on the property. You can also find out what the assessed value is, prior assessments, purchase prices and any features that have changed throughout the years.

With this information you get a better idea of the home?s value and if you think it?s really priced fairly. Sometimes what seems like a good deal may actually be a bad purchase because of some ?hidden? aspects of the home that make it undesirable. A property background check can help you find those defects.

In the past you had to go to the local courthouse to find records on the property but today they?re readily available online and you can typically get a full background pretty quickly without much hassle or expense.

Now that property background checks are really easy to obtain you should always get one before your purchase a property, it could actually help you make a decision whether to buy or not to buy.