This fantasy really isn't a fantasy.  Good tenants are attracted to properties with specific qualities.  Conversely, they set new personal records running away from properties with other qualities.

The wonderful thing about the techniques I am going to tell you about is that they work in every neighborhood, regardless of income level.  There are good tenants in every rent range.  Moreover, what I am going to tell you could earn you a minimum of $1000 per rental unit in extra rent income in the next two years.
 

Attitude

How would you treat someone who walked up to you and was going to give you $5000?  Presumably, after you convinced yourself that they were not scamming you, you would treat them very well.  If you are renting a house or apartment for even $500 a month, that tenant is going to give you $6000 in a year, and $12,000 in two years.  While doing that they are going to pay your mortgage on the property and let you have all the appreciation.  Pretty good deal, huh?  Isn't that why you got into the landlording business to start with.

The problem is, too many landlords treat people who are going to give them all that money shabbily.  A survey done a while back found that almost half  the tenants asked ranked the appearance and attitude of the landlord and the landlord's staff as the most important factor in selecting their present place to live.  A professional appearance and attitude tells a tenant that the place will be run right, that the landlord will take care of business.

Tom Peters, the noted business guru, points out that airline passengers will judge the quality and maintenance of jet engines on whether they see coffee stains on the trays.  Likewise, tenants will judge the quality of the rental property by the appearance and attitude of the landlord.   Good appearance and attitude, and good tenants want to live in your property.  Bad appearance and attitude, and you get what's left.
 

Professionalism

It goes right along with attitude, but adds something more.  You demonstrate professionalism by HYST, Having Your Stuff Together.  If you show your rental property and take care of the business by the seat of your pants, you will not inspire confidence in a good tenant.

If, on the other hand, you use checklists, have a set procedure for showing the property, for getting the rental application and rental agreement to the prospective tenant, for telling him or her what is expected of them as far as qualifications for renting go, then you will go a long way towards showing you have HYST.  Imagine if you went to your doctor and told him or her what was troubling you, only to have him or her not have your file to write anything
down on, call the AMA to find out what sort of procedures would be appropriate for your symptoms, you get the idea.

A professional attitude and approach makes good tenants feel comfortable and bad tenants run.  Fumble around and seem to not be able to figure out what you are doing and you have bad tenants rubbing their hands with anticipation for the disaster they can create in what used to be your perfectly good rental property.
 

Sell the property through appearance

Good tenants want to rent places that look nice.  That's because they feel good about themselves and want to live in nice surroundings.  Bad tenants don't care one way or the other where they live, as long as they can find some sucker landlord to let them live somewhere.  That means make the house or apartment look terrific!  A bad tenant will drive by a really well-cared-for rental property and say to himself, "there's no way I could ever get in there."  The good tenants applying to rent will make it impossible for him to be accepted.

What to do to make it attractive:

• Landscape the yard
• Paint inside and out, if appropriate
• If you have a parking lot, be sure the stripes are painted
• Paint any wood fences
• Wash the windows
• Polish anything that will shine
• Replace wall-to-wall carpet (or at least make it like new), or wax the hardwood floor
• Put higher wattage light bulbs in fixtures, to give more light (trust me, it works)

How to attract good tenants and discourage bad ones

Advertising is logically the first place to weed out the riffraff.  But the best advertising is a nice looking rental property.  Nonetheless, you can structure your newspaper ads to tell good tenants that your property will be a good place to live, and that they should call right now.

Good tenants don't want bad tenants for neighbors--that could be why they are moving.  Good tenants want to know that you are careful about who you rent to, especially in multiunit properties.  Words that indicate that you check references and enforce rules will draw them out.  Also indicating that you demand an application fee  tends to reassure.  Bad tenants don't like application fees, they know they will lose both it and any chance to rent the property.
(Just be certain with an application fee that you check your state's Landlord/Tenant Law to see how much is permissible.)

If you have a special property, for example, historic, on the river, a jogging trail, or a bike trail, be sure to advertise that prominently.  Tenants who would be attracted to the special feature of your property are not tenants just looking for any old place to live, they are looking for a place which fits their lifestyles and tend to be better tenants.

Your ad will do well if it shows you have pride of ownership.  Saying things, such as "well-cared-for," " immaculate, "new paint and carpet," "first-class," and similar things will tell prospective tenants that you take pride in your property and that you will expect your tenants to do the same.  Ads such as these will have the same effect as the well-kept house and yard, it will tell bad tenants that they don't stand a chance of getting to rent the place--too much
competition from good tenants.

Current tenants are a great source of leads, as well.  If you have some prize tenants, tenants you never want to part with, tell them you have a vacancy coming up and ask if they have any friends who might be interested in living in the property.  Responsible people tend to have responsible people as friends.  Even if they know someone who would not be a good tenant, they would tell you that he or she wasn't someone you would want to rent to.  I would suggest paying them a finders fee if you end up renting to someone they referred to you, but check your state real estate laws first.  In Oregon, for example, it would be illegal to pay the tenant anything, because that would be engaging in professional real estate activity without a license.  Even so, the tenants would probably not expect anything from you, just the satisfaction of knowing that they might have good tenants for neighbors would be reward enough.

Put a sign in the yard.  After you have done all this work to make the place look nice, take advantage of it for good advertising.
 

How much is a good, long-term tenant worth?

Obviously a whole lot more than a bad, short-term one.  Figure it out.  How long does your average prize tenant stay, two years, three years?  How much does losing two or three months' rent to a bad tenant cost?  How much does cleaning and otherwise preparing a unit rented to a bad tenant cost to rent cost?

Add up the rent for the length of time your average good tenant stays in the property.  Now add to that the cost of the at least two months' rent you lose to a bad tenant and the cost of cleanup and fixup.  That is how much a good tenant is worth.

It's worth the time to find the good ones, to do the things that will make them call you and want to live in your property.  These are your best customers.  Good businesspeople value good customers above all else.