Strange Zillow Rental Listing Response Pattern.

[Russell John Walsh]

This is the second time I have used Zillow to list my property. The last time Was 18 months ago.

After a day, or so, of responses from verifiably real people, with a balance of male and female applicants, I get a steady stream of almost all females who ask for a tour but never respond to my answer, which works perfectly well for the first half a dozen responses. Also, unlike early respondents, they rarely offer an application, or any other financial information, just the request for a tour.  The same pattern emerged the last time I used Zillow. I did get a good tenant, and I probably will this time, but It seems like a waste of time to keep responding to these, and honestly, I am just wondering what this is about. 

This is how I am responding. Like I said in the first day, or so,  it sets up a good opening conversation with prospective tenants. 

Thank you for your interest in our rental home, Please review the listing to make sure all adults applying would meet the criteria and that pets would also. If you have any questions please let us know.
Then, if you would like to make an appointment, there will be an open house by appointment Sunday 1/9/2021.
For everyone's sake, we are going by strict appointment, approximately 1/2 hour. Would you please let me know if you are available between 1:00 and 4:00 PM on Sunday 1/9/2021 so that we can schedule an appointment? Thank you

[Julie Hartman]

@Russell John Walsh We get many ghosting emails from Zillow too. We get them on other platforms as well so it's difficult to extrapolate anything from it. I think in a high demand area, prospects send out dozens of inquires hoping to hear back from a landlord and then don't respond to the others once they hear from their first choice. For the showings, it could be that since you are openly stating the time you will be there, they may figure they can just show up if their first choice doesn't work out. Even though you indicate there is a strict appointment policy, for many people, following directions isn't high on the priority list. We like to set appointments as well but bunch them all up at the same time to create more demand.