What do you think is the cost of failure to screen tenants and use a proper rental agreement? Think it’s $100 dollars? a thousand dollars? I’m going to share a story about a landlord from back in 2006. By the way, this story is one of the reasons I decided to found Rentler.

Once upon a time, there was this successful and extremely handsome fella who owned a digital ad agency. He got a brilliant idea that it would be super to invest some of his money in real estate. He designed the perfect floor plans and built a magnificent home. In fact, the real estate market was booming so he decided to buy some other excellent real estate deals. Before he could blink, the market turned for the worse. Since he was not able to sell his investment, he became a landlord by default.

How hard could it be right? “I’ll just find some honest folks to rent my places and sell my homes in a couple years.”

Hahahahaha.

Being the trusting person he is, he met his first prospect and looked them in the whites of their eyes and asked them, “You’re not going to screw me are you?” “Of course not!” said the young couple. Great! They seemed like a perfect fit. He went home and found a rental agreement online—and of course it claimed to be the ‘best’ landlord contract. Score!

Okay, you caught me- the extremely handsome fella we’re talking about is me. Nine months later, I was sitting in an attorney’s office (a good lawyer friend I begged to help me) fuming about how my tenants hadn’t paid rent… EVER! I discovered they had filed bankruptcy a few weeks before moving in and the rental agreement I so luckily found online was as useful as a wet paper sack.

So how much did it cost me NOT to screen and use a proper rental agreement? A whopping $35,000 dollars. That’s right, with the lost rent and the legal fees to finally evict the tenants it ended up costing me $35,000 dollars. That $25 dollar credit and background check was looking real good right about now. I could have seen the bankruptcy!

My real estate investment days came to an end, but the best was yet to come. Thanks to this experience, Rentler was born. My mission was to provide the DIY rental market with screening, leasing agreements, online rent payments… everything digital and seamless. I saw a need and a problem that I, myself, trudged through for years. I decided enough was enough! Don’t make the mistake I did.

Choose Rentler instead, then reach out and tell us your story!