Screening / Pre-Qualification Questions

[Troy D.]

Just wanted to get some feedback on some questions regarding screening.  I appreciate any thoughts you may have. 

When a prospective new tenant calls about a property I'm assuming you do a screening interview over the phone.  If the interview goes well do you send a pre-qualification form that has to be filled out before showing a unit after the phone screen?

Do you send the minimum criteria required to rent from you along with the pre-qualification form or do you wait to give that to the prospect at an open house once they fill out an application?

What do you use as a gross monthly income requirement 3x or 4x the rental amount?  Do you allow married couples combined income for this criteria?

What do you use as a minimum credit score that's required to rent from you?

[Brian Adzadi]

@Troy D.

I can tell you what we did when it came to screening and interviews with our rental and see if that's a good template to follow.

We placed an advertisement on Craigslist and Facebook with pics and info on the property. We also stated the requirements {No Criminal or Eviction background, make 2-3x the rent PER person, verifiable job number, minimum of 525 credit score (our area did not harbor people with the optimum credit score), and extra $25-$50 monthly payment for smokers and pet owners (per pet) its waived if pet is a verifiable service animal}.

When people call, we repeat info on the property and the requirements list. Apparently people don't read too often nowadays and you need to repeat things to them over and over. We don't ask them any pre-qualification over the phone, we wait for the showing to do that. If they agree, we set a showing. We try to group the showings on the same day and as close in time as possible; an hour apart preferably. If the person decides to go with through the rental then they fill out the rental application and give us a non-refundable fee of $40 for background check.

We used Mysmartmove.com by Transunion. They give you Eviction, Criminal, Credit and if their pay is X amount higher than your rent fee.

If they don't meet our standards, we make a print out of their report (Just in case they want to contest our decision) then text them that they were declined.

For married couples, each one must make at least 2x the rent because people break up and move out all the time, you need to make sure your rent can still be paid by the person left behind.