9 Crucial Online Ways for Brokers to Find a Smart Tenant
When it comes to renting houses or homes, a landlord or a broker will search for the most viable persons, individuals, or applicants they could find.
This is due to the fact that good tenants always pay their dues on time and furthermore are willing to cooperate in matters of urgencies and emergencies.
Philippine is no different in this regard because finding the perfect tenant could be a tedious task. While earning passive income through rent is good, getting it without headaches can be tough.
According to a recent study by the Philippine Statistics Authority, a total of 4,734 establishments were engaged in the formal sector of the economy dealing with real estate activities. This led to value addition of over 311 billion pesos, which is roughly equal to $6.44 billion.
Furthermore, real estate activities on a fee or contract basis amounted to 13.4% for total establishments, while 86.6% was accredited to the owner or leased properties.
In light of this information, let’s take a quick look at some of the ways through which you can screen tenants in the Philippines.
1. Current & Past Financial Standings
Before you start showing favors to any tenant, it is best that you find out about the current and financial standings. This will help you determine whether they can be trusted with your property and whether they have the ability to pay compensation, i.e., the mutually decided rent for staying in on your property.
Credit Info Corporation has a website and is affiliated with the government of the Philippines to provide detailed services that you can acquire by applying for them online.
Through their expertise in the matter, you can acquire current and past financial standings of your applicants and save yourself from any future troubles when they become your tenant.
2. Job/Occupation History and Present Scenario
The website Filepino offers background checks and verification services for both pre and post-employment screening as well as vendor and business screening. Their background checks provide you with the following information, including:
- Personal data, including name, address, and contact details of candidates.
- Educational background through cross-checks from the information provided with the educational institutions listed on the application.
- Employment history through accurate data from past employers, dates of employment, and actual positions held in the previous company.
- Character and professional reputation with first-hand accounts from their former colleagues and superiors.
- History of drug or substance abuse such as drug tests and potential risks for the future.
3. Criminal Record
There are several ways you can check your applicant’s criminal record. The CRS Checks website offers Philippines Criminal Records Search – Nationwide for $75 and an average turnaround of 7-10 business days.
On the other hand, you also have OSI (Orion Support Incorporated) that offers Philippines Criminal Records Checks. The OSI’s Basic disclosure criminal record check includes unspent convictions but does not include job-specific information.
Their Standard disclosure, however, offers data for both spent and unspent convictions, which are considered important for the security industry and financial services sector.
Lastly, their Enhanced disclosure criminal record check provides a full criminal history background check, which is mostly utilized by the police and government agencies. I recommend that you stick with the Standard disclosure for most applicants, and only for shady people do you apply for the Enhanced disclosure.
4. Credit History
Another way to determine whether tenants are a viable choice for your property is to check their credit history.
This is probably one of the best means to clarify whether your tenant is a good choice or not for the future. You can ask your tenants to share their credit history with you. Here are some tips to check credit scores in the Philippines:
- Visit the CIC website, https://www.creditinfo.gov.ph/
- In the top section of the website, you will see a lot of drop-down menu options.
- Visit the “Services” section.
- You will see several options. Click on the one that says, “Get a CIC Credit Report”.
- Read the terms and conditions and click on the “I Agree” button.
- Select preferred date of appointment.
- Provide the obligatory personal information.
- Finally, download and print your application form.
Now you need to personally visit the CIC office located in Legaspi Village, Makati City. To ensure the safety of your data, the CIC would first conduct a KYC (Know Your Customer) process.
5. Face-to-Face Interviews
If you seek to screen out applicants, then perhaps one of the best ways is to conduct face-to-face interviews with them simply. Just ask them to meet you anywhere where you two can meet and have a discussion in a safe and sound environment.
It could be your home or a local café. But make sure that neither of your privacies is being compromised. Students who apply for dissertation assistance also go through a similar screening process via an interview when joining a reputable college or a university. Here are some tips:
- Introduce yourself and ask for their introduction.
- Ask them questions relating to reasons for the decision to move into a rented property.
- Talk about how long they plan to stay.
- Question them about family members, pets, if any, and who else will be joining them.
- Go through all necessities and obligations and your requirements.
- See if they are willing to comply with your terms and conditions.
- Inquire about their job or employment stability, work experience, educational qualification, financial stability, health problems, if any, and other concerns.
- Take your time, and don’t rush.
- Take a pen or journal with you to jot down notes.
- It’s your house and property, and you can have all the right in the world to be snobbish, so don’t bother being shy!
6. Prioritizing Your Own Preferences
I just do not understand that in this 21st Century how people can be so nice to never look for their own benefits. As a landowner, I thoroughly suggest and highly recommend that you always put your notions first before anyone else’s.
You have earned property in your name, and by all means, you should do everything to protect it from falling into the hands of the wrong tenants. This is why if you have any concerns, always prioritize them.
Please don’t leave them out because your complacency in the matter is highly unadvisable, and no sensible person in their right mind would forgo them. I know this sounds reckless, but I assure you that being strict from the first day will help you overcome a lot of difficulties in the future.
Please do not act in a manner that can cause problems for you in the long run. Stick to what is reasonable and just!
7. References of Good Faith
Like in a job application, where you ask for reference as a sign of good faith, you can do the same for any applicants that are pitching in to become future tenants. Two work-related references and two personal references should be good enough to satisfy your qualms.
8. Signup for Collaterals
There is always a risk in life, and with the current economy along with the COVID-19 pandemic bringing the world to its knees, there is no sense of security anymore.
This is why you might have to consider asking tenants to sign up for collaterals. These can ensure that in time of emergencies, you can be sure to receive your dues without any complaints.
9. Willingness to Cooperate
People are people where ever you go, and the sky is the sky no matter wherever you are living on the planet. When living in a community, there are certain regulations that are mandatory to be followed.
The same goes for housing societies and enclosed dwelling places. In such conditions, willingness to cooperate and compliance from your tenant because crucial to keep the matter under control and avoid any inconveniences.
Conclusion
Life in the Philippines is fantastic, to say the least. It offers a unique cultural mix of both diversity and homogeneity. I hope this post was able to offer you some meaningful insights as to how you should screen out tenants and protect yourself from any cognitive dissonances in the future.
For more questions related to the topic, please feel free to leave a mention of your query in the comment section below.
Author Bio
Samantha Kaylee currently works as an Assistant Editor at Crowd Writer. This is where higher education students can acquire professional assignment writing service UK from experts specializing in their field of study. During her free time, she likes to watch documentaries and read autobiographies of popular public figures.
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