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Really depends on the renter. With such low vacancy right now it's fairly easy to be picky about the renter.. previous landlord, references, and credit checks are all necessary, plus meeting with the person a few times.

Take a look at their car when they come to see the place.. not what kind, but what does it look like inside the car. Another thing to sometimes if it works out, drop off something (a copy of the agreement or something) at their current address when you think they'll be home.. nothing tells you more about a person than a quick unexpected drop in.

Of course tenants play games to get around these things too.. they'll give their buddy as a landlord reference (when you call the landlord reference, first question should be "I'm calling to see if you have any vacancies", and if they answer "What?" then you know. Or sometimes it's even a real landlord but they really want to get rid of the tenant, that's tougher to tell.

But yeah, in general tenants suck. I do find that our condo that has double the rent of our other properties has ZERO problems, I never hear from them, and the place is exactly like it was when I moved out years ago.