You are in charge now. You call yourself “the boss.” You are the landlord. Your first order of business is what? You must collect information from your tenants, as you will need to be able to contact them at some point.

Every single time you talk to your tenants, smile. Never, ever forget to smile.

Worry not, for collecting information from tenants is quick and easy, usually. You are in charge, and you must remember this. Do not forget that you are the boss. That being said, don’t be a jerk either. Be firm, fair, and friendly. Do not forget these three Fs.

Fill your voice with confidence and stand up straight. If you lack either of these qualities, you will be stamped upon in the landlording business. Tenants will take advantage of you and treat you with no respect if they see that you are a coward. If you are a coward, then fake it.

Tenants like, respect, and desire a landlord that knows what he is doing; they desire a landlord who is in control of the situation. Be sure that you are coming off like this. Also, don’t forget to smile.

Asking them for their information is easy. Just ask them. That is all there is to it. Sometimes, you will have a tenant who seems very suspicious, as if he thinks you have some ulterior motive for getting his information. For these paranoid types, gently explain the reasons why you need their information. They should understand.

You can ask them if they would like to be told about a creep outside their window or a fire when asking for their cell phone numbers or work numbers.

Tell them that you need their social security numbers so that you can tell the credit agencies about their on-time payments. This helps you, too, because you will wan to check their credit. You must check their reliability. Be sure to smile, too.

If you encounter any resistance, let them know that it is for their own benefit. If they do not want to give out their phone numbers for fear of receiving harassing or telemarketing phone calls, assure them that you will take every precaution you can to keep their number from getting out. And, be sure to smile.

If you just cannot get the information out of them, forget it. It is not worth fighting with them.

You can ask other sources, the previous landlord, etc. for their information. You can, without much effort, find their information from other sources.

Once you have all their information, store it away in a safe place. That was pretty easy, right?

Cody Scholberg, an expert on property management, writes for the Commercial Property Management Guide, a source of landlording information. Check out this checklist for choosing good tenants.