Ask the Expert: More Rentals, Pickier Renters. 9 Moves Most Landlords Miss

By Steve Waller · October 21, 2026

Ask the Expert: adapted from the Investor Playbook by Juma Otoviano of Tidal Loans, a direct private lender in Houston. Shared with credit to the author.

Quick answer: Renters have the upper hand right now. Verify income against bank deposits, call the prior landlord, switch to a landlord policy, time your lease to end in spring, compete on speed instead of cutting rent, scope the sewer line, talk to your CPA about cost segregation, enforce a legal late fee from month one, and run the property like a business.

The landlord's job just got harder. Asking rents are up only 1.9% over the last year, the slowest since 2020. Single-family rent growth is the weakest on record, and about 39% of listings are offering a concession like a free week or a waived fee. Renters can shop around, and they are.

At the same time, more owners who couldn't sell at their price are renting instead. These "accidental landlords" are near an all-time high, and 7 of the 10 metros with the most of them are in Texas or Florida. If you rehabbed a house and decided to hold it, you're now up against seasoned operators for the good tenants.

1. Don't trust the pay stub. Check the bank deposits.

AI can make a perfect fake pay stub in seconds. Roughly 84% of housing providers say they've been handed falsified income documents, and AI-made fakes jumped about fivefold in 2025. Ask for two or three months of bank statements, or use bank-linked verification, and make sure the deposits come from the employer on the application.

2. Call the previous landlord, not just the current one.

A current landlord who wants a problem tenant gone will give a glowing reference. The one before that has no reason to spin it. Watch for a friend posing as "the landlord," too. You can check who really owns the property for free on the county appraisal district site.

3. Switch to a landlord (DP3) policy the day it becomes a rental.

This is the number-one accidental-landlord mistake. They rent the house out but keep the homeowner's policy, and the insurer can deny a claim because the owner doesn't live there anymore. Move to a landlord or dwelling-fire policy and add loss-of-rent coverage, so a fire or flood doesn't also wipe out six months of income.

4. Time the lease to end in spring or early summer.

Use an odd first term, say 14 or 18 months, so every future renewal lands in peak leasing season. A June vacancy fills in days. A December one sits for weeks and usually goes at a discount. Hardly anyone sets this on purpose, and it protects your rent for years.

5. Compete on speed and condition. Offer a concession, not a rent cut.

With more supply and so many listings discounting, the first good unit rented wins: good photos, a 3D tour, a same-day decision. If you need to give something, spread one month free over 12 instead of dropping the rent. The unit fills and your rent of record stays put, which protects your comps and the market rent an appraiser will use when you refinance.

6. Sewer-scope the fresh rehab, then keep a maintenance calendar.

New paint hides old plumbing, and a main-line backup in month two is the classic reluctant-landlord disaster. Scope the line before move-in. Then schedule the boring stuff: HVAC service, water-heater flush, termite checks. Those $200 visits head off the $8,000 replacement.

7. Ask your CPA about cost segregation and your placed-in-service date.

You just put rehab money into the house. A cost-segregation study can front-load depreciation on that fresh basis, and documenting the date the home switched from for-sale to for-rent is what makes the rehab depreciable in the first place. Most accidental landlords miss both. This is general education, not tax advice, so talk to your CPA.

8. Require auto-pay and set your late fee to what state law allows. Enforce it from month one.

ACH auto-pay ends "the check's in the mail." A legal late fee that you actually enforce teaches on-time payment. Set it too high and it gets thrown out. Never enforce it and you've taught the tenant to pay late. Legal and consistent beats harsh and ignored.

9. Run it like a business, not a hobby.

Keep a separate bank account, ideally an entity, log every repair with dated photos in property software, and put every conversation in writing. That paper trail is your defense in a deposit or habitability dispute, and it's exactly what a lender and a CPA want to see when it's time to refinance or file.

Turning a flip into a rental?

If your plan changed from sell to hold, run the rental numbers before you decide. ACP's calculators at acp-lending.com let you compare the flip and the hold side by side, including what a long-term rental loan would look like.

General education for business-purpose real estate investors. Not financial, tax, insurance or legal advice. Landlord-tenant rules vary by state, so confirm your local law before you act. Rental figures are national, from Zillow rental research (2026); application-fraud figures from NMHC/NAA and Snappt, as cited by the author.

About the Author

Juma Otoviano, Tidal Loans

Juma Otoviano is with Tidal Loans, a Houston-based direct private lender (NMLS #1979189) that finances fix-and-flip, bridge, DSCR rental, ground-up construction and multifamily loans for real estate investors. This article is adapted from Tidal Loans' Investor Playbook series. All credit for the original content goes to Juma and Tidal Loans.

The full report is available at ACP's website, acp-lending.com. Investors can sign up to receive new reports by email at acp-lending.com/investor-brief.

Sources

• Juma Otoviano, Tidal Loans: More Rentals, Pickier Renters: 9 Moves Most Landlords Miss (Investor Playbook, Oct 2026)
• Zillow Rental Research

Market data is from public sources and is provided for information only. Nothing here is an offer of credit, a rate quote, or investment advice. Financing is subject to underwriting, lender approval, appraisal or valuation, title, insurance, property eligibility and program availability.

All briefs