Want to Avoid Nightmare Tenants? Here’s What We Do—and You Can Too.
Last year, a landlord in our network rented to what seemed like a “perfect” tenant. Good job, polite, quick to sign the lease.

Fast forward 6 months…

$4,800 in unpaid rent
$2,000+ in damage
4 court appearances
A vacant unit for 3 months = $5,400 in lost rent
Total cost? Over $12,000.

And it all came down to one mistake: poor screening.

Here’s how we avoid this—
And how you can, too:

1) Never accept pay stubs alone.
→ We verify income with employer calls and bank deposits. Some tenants fake documents—it happens more than you’d think.

2) Call every previous landlord—especially the one before last.
→ The current landlord might say anything to get a problem tenant out.

3) Use a real screening platform, not just Google.
→ We run full credit, background, eviction, and criminal checks—through national databases.

4) Look for patterns, not perfection.
→ One late payment isn’t a dealbreaker. But consistent problems? Red flag.

5) Trust your system—not your feelings.
→ We’ve learned to fall back on the process. Charm doesn’t pay rent.

These are the exact steps we follow at Colonial Property Management to protect our clients’ investments.

Great tenants don’t happen by luck. They happen by process.
If you or someone you know wants expert tenant placement without the trial and error,
we’re here to help—and we do this every single day.