5 Steps to Sucessfully Renting your St Louis Home

Ok,  you have decided to lease your home.  In our 18 years in serving the St Louis Real Estate Market,  we have developed a 5 step process to help owners successfully lease their homes.

Step 1:  Marketing the Home for Lease/Rent.

It sounds simple,  traditionally,  you would use a for rent sign,  and place an ad in the news paper.  Those means are only partially effective.  Today’s tenants are very tech v,  with over 90% of them searching online for homes for lease.  The Internet is a great place to advertise your home.

Photos, photos, photos,   today’s consumer is looking at all hours of the day,  The Internet is a great tool for you to show off your home,  we typically take 20-30 photos of each home,  these photos property displayed along with a detailed description of your home for lease helps drive interested tenants to your home.

You should consider syndicating the marketing of your home.  Renters are looking on a variety of rental sites,  in St Louis it is common for renters to look on realtor.com,  rentals.com, apartments.com,  and dozens of specialty sites including craigslist.  Each of the properties we lease are heavily advertised in these sites to ensure you have maximum exposure to potential renters.  With our leasing services,  you can be assured your homes photos and description will be syndicated and shared with all top leasing websites used through out the St Louis area.

Step 2:  Tenant Selection Process

Tenant Selection is the key to success in the real estate investment business.  I can not stress this enough.  The wrong tenant can cost you thousands of dollars in damage and lost rent if they have to be evicted from the property.

We have developed and utilize a stringent selection process to ensure we deliver the highest quality tenants throughout St Louis market to our owners.  This process starts from the first phone calls:

• Initial Inquiries -by interviewing prospective tenants on the phone,  we are able to pre-screen them before we show them your home. 
• Schedule Showings – we handle all property showings of pre-screened tenants,  we like to personally meet the prospective tenants to get a feel for them,  show them the home,  and answer any questions about the property while asking specific questions to further screen them.

Step 3:  Application Process

After the showing,  if the prospective tennant is interested and they meet the pre-screening questions,  they are given a comprehensive application to complete.  Once completed,  we collect the application and $45 application fee from the applicant.  We review the application,  and complete the following:

• Criminal background Check
• Credit bureau Analysis
• Sex Offender Registry check
• Employment Verification
• Previous Landlord Verification

There is a lot of grey area in the analysis of this data,  each owner has different desires on the credit quality of their tenants.  We specialize in reading between the numbers.  We provide our owners our recommendations based on the data collected,  and further analysis of debt to income ratios to determine their ability to pay your.  We will  discuss with you any findings in the reports,  and our recommendations on the applicant.  

Step 4:  Meeting the applicant

Only after we have screened calls,  shown the property to potential tenants,  accepted and analyzed the applicaitons  and presented our findings to you will you have any contact with a potential renter.   As we present a tenant to you that meets your criteria,  we will arrange a meeting at the home between you and the potential tenant. 

This meeting is typically only 10-15 minutes long.  it is a great opportunity  for you to meet and get comfortable with the family that could be renting your home.   It is also important for the applicant to meet you and have the ability to get to know you as well.

Step 5:  The Lease

There are a variety of leases that can be used for renting homes in St Louis.  We recommend and use the one that has been approved by the St Louis Association of Realtors.  This lease is very thorough and does a great job outlining the terms of the lease,  and responsibilities of all both the renter and the owner.  Additionally,  there are a few variables that we may want to add in,  such as a higher security deposit to mitigate any credit risk,  charging pet rent for dogs or cats that may be present, and even requiring renters insurance to help protect you as the owner.

If you are considering leasing a home in St Louis, St Charles,  or Jefferson County,  give me a call to discuss your property   Jeff Camilleri 314-480-3801