What’s your process to bring in new tenant?

Question

BLUF: seems like my process takes too long, seems unorganized and hard to track  I lose a lot of the people in the flood of DMs on FB.

What’s your process to bring in new tenant?I’ve had good luck with Facebook so primarily get tenants there. Here’s my current process:

1. List on facebook/Boost post

2. Respond to DMs with Google form for prescreen (lots of people think it’s a scam; see form below)

3. Those who do fill out the form, I weed out the bad, contact the good and schedule viewings.

4. Those who show, I interviews and lease based on answers. my property is in a D neighborhood and most tenants aren’t the best and most won’t submit credit/background checks.

Any suggestions?

Jose Quinones · Answer

You know what, I browsed that feature. I assumed that, that was the case but, now that I know for sure. I'll test it out. I find the rental application tailoring or modifying to be a lil cumbersome on the site even worse on the app. Any tips?

Jose Quinones · Answer

Thank you Alecia! Must be a Facebook thing! I apprecita you and the time you took to post on my thread! I'll definitely be modifying my process.

Jose Quinones · Answer

Must be a Facebook thing! Thank you so much for taking the time to post on my thread. Means so much!

Alecia Loveless · Answer

@Jose Quinones I primarily use Facebook Marketplace but occasionally answer a post of someone looking for a unit that turns out to be a solid lead.

A ton of people who initially inquire about a unit on Facebook drop out of the process quite quickly.

For those who continue to interact with me beyond the inevitable “Is this available?” Post I send out the screening application.

I then lose a ton more.

Once I start getting applications returned to me I set up showings, both individually and usually 1-2 open house style options.

Once tenants have viewed the property I go in order of the first qualified tenant that says they want to proceed to the background check.

If they’re approved and pay the deposit I’m done. If not I run the next background check in order of who got to me first.

I often start out with 100 leads from Marketplace and then by the time I’m ready to do background checks I only have 3-5 left in the process.

It’s frustrating but for the most part I have gotten solid tenants that are staying multiple years.

Rene Hosman · Answer

Have you considered using the free pre-application questionnaire instead of google forms though? There’s two options on RentRedi as far as I know, you can have folks fill out a pre-screen questionnaire that is free and it then inputs them into RentRedi for you so you can easily keep track. And then once you’ve showed people the place you can look at the people who filled out the pre screen and click “invite to apply” - that’s the part that costs them a little $ and does background check.

But it seems like your process could be made easier by just sending out the free pre-screen questionnaire instead of google forms?

Nathan Gesner · Answer

1. Your form doesn't appear in the original post.

2. Don't invest in D-class properties.

3. Credit/criminal background shouldn't be optional.

4. Facebook rarely provides quality applicants. Try casting a wide net by advertising on Zillow, zumper, apartments.com, or other websites.

Jose Quinones · Answer

Yeaaaaa. I've tried that. I do use rentredi. Mostly for document upload. Since my property is in a D area most of prospective tenants don't like to fill out background/credit checks let alone pay for them. My plan is to use the google form to get them to the unit viewing them explain to the me that they'll have to use the app to apply, pay, and request maintenance.

My issue is that it doesn't feel efficient. I get tons of FB dm's. Im trying to find a better way to capitilzie on all of em. I lose a lot because the google link looks scammy. It really does lol. bunch of numbers and letters. So I get it. I rationalize by saying ''welp not the right kind of tenant'' but in reality if I get 50-75 dms only half that fill out the google form. I feel like Im scaring prospects away.

Jose Quinones · Answer

Hi! Thaks for your reply. It is just me. I seem to be making progress but, again I get so many DMs on Facebook that if they don't fill out the google form, I lose em. It's a weird looking link so, about half the people that apply don't reply back after I send it to them. I may get 50-75 DMs, 20-25 fill out the form, 10-12 meet my criteria, 5-8 tell the truth, 1-3 come to showings lol. I get that that's the whole idea. To weed people out but, the way im doing it doesn't feel very efficient.

Michele Fischer · Answer

Hi Jose.

My properties are currently with PM's, but all of our properties are D class so I might be able to provide some insight.

With D class, a lot of people don't have credit or even bank accounts, and anything on-line that they can't easily do on their phone isn't going to work.  We still ran credit, to check for evictions and to see address history.  We would pay for the screening.  It is a minor expense to get more completed applications to choose from.

Is it just you?

My husband and I would divide and conquer.  He would chase leads, show the units, and try to get completed applications turned in.  Ours were not electronic, they would fill them out at the property if they were interested, or drop them by later.  Not everyone was and that is normal.  We tried to do the showings open house style, "I'll be there 10-noon today and 2-4pm tomorrow, stop by."

Once we got a completed application, it would go to me and I would process them in order as fast as I can.  Once we offer the unit to someone we let all other applicants know it is rented, even the ones that didn't qualify.

Using checklists and staying organized is key to staying on top of things and not having any discrimination issues.  Find a centralized place to keep track of information you know about interested parties and can make sure you are moving them forward through the process.

Good luck!