How Many Applicants.....

3 Replies

- I allow up to 20 people to apply, before i select. 

- I do one day of an open house and choose the most qualified to my standards.

How do you do it?

I'm with you. I batch applications and choose the most qualified. But most of our places rent up by word of mouth these days, so we don't get the deluge of applicants that results after posting an ad or offering an open house.

Some jurisdictions require you to accept the first applicant who meets your minimum criteria to rent, instead of the most qualified. That's when you get people completing with each other at an open house to get their application into your hand first. Can get ugly.

First qualified applicant gets it. First come first serve. I care about three things:

1. Can they pay in full, on time, all the time?

2. Will they damage my property?

3. Will they cause trouble for me, the neighbors, the police?

Anyone who can run that gauntlet gets the house. We have criteria that we spell out on our website. 95% of applicants we have met and pre-screened. If someone will be an obvious PITA, we will hold their application, but beyond that "qualified" is a subjective term because you never know for sure who you're renting to until they've occupied the property. We have hard criteria (credit worthiness, criminal record, etc) but they have to pass the PITA test first. 

I use Facebook marketplace , It is not uncommon to get 100 messages wanting to see the place in 2-3 days .. I then screen them by their profile as they message me and when I find one I like I start messaging them key questions to pre qualify . After I get 3-4 good ones that fit my criteria I hold a open house with them showing up on a weekend . Then I select the right one out of that small group . I take a bunch of pictures of the place and pull the no punches . I ask certain things certain ways to get to the meat and potatoes of if they will be a good fit and can/will pay